MAF 


BRANCH, 

»1TY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

LIBRARY, 
4-OS  ANGELES,  QAL^ 


THE 


OLD  NORTHWEST 


WITH  A  VIEW  OF    THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

AS   CONSTITUTED   BY   THE 

ROYAL  CHARTERS 

GTATEWORMALSCHG-.. 

LOS  AN' 


BY 

B.   A.   HINSDALE,   PH.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF   THE    SCIENCE  AND   ART   OF   TEACHING,    UNIVERSITY   OF 

MICHIGAN;  AUTHOR  OF  "SCHOOLS  AND  STUDIES,"  AND  EDITOR  OK^ 

"THE  WORKS  OF  JAMES  ABRAM  GARFIELD" 


"  Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

— Ordinance  of  1787. 

"  No  colony  in  America  was  ever  settled  under  such  favorable  auspices  as  that  which  has 
just  commenced  at  the  Muskingum." — WASHINGTON. 

"We  look  to  you  of  the  Northwest   to  finally  decide   whether  this  is  to  be  a  land   of 
slavery  or  freedom.    The  people  of  the  Northwest  are  to  be  the  arbiters  of  its  destiny." 

— SEWARD. 


IsEW  '••ifoftkV 

TOWNSEND    MAC    COUN 
1888 


L> 


COPYRIGHT,  1888 
TOWNSEND  MAC  COUN 

NEW    YORK 


TROW8 

ntlNTINQ  AND  OOOKBINOINQ  COMPANY, 
NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


SAVE  New  England  alone,  there  is  no  section  of  the 
United  States  embracing  several  States  that  is  so  distinct  an 
historical  unit,  and  that  so  readily  yields  to  historical  treat- 
ment, as  the  Old  Northwest  It  is  the  part  of  the  Great 
West  first  discovered  and  colonized  by  the  French.  It  was 
the  occasion  of  the  final  struggle  for  dominion  between 
France  and  England  in  North  America.  It  was  the  thea- 
tre of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  far-reaching  military  ex- 
ploits of  the  Revolution.  The  disposition  to  be  made  of  it 
at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  is  the  most  important  territo- 
rial question  treated  in  the  history  of  American  diplomacy. 
After  the  war,  the  Northwest  began  to  assume  a  constantly 
increasing  importance  in  the  national  history.  It  is  the  origi- 
nal public  domain,  and  the  part  of  the  West  first  colonized 
under  the  authority  of  the  National  Government.  It  was 
the  first  and  the  most  important  Territory  ever  organized  by 
Congress.  It  is  the  only  part  of  the  United  States  ever 
under  a  secondary  constitution  like  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
No  other  equal  part  of  the  Union  has  made  in  one  hundred 
years  such  progress  along  the  characteristic  lines  of  American 
development.  Moreover,  the  Northwest  has  stood  in  very 
important  relations  to  questions  of  great  national  and  inter- 
national importance,  as  the  use  and  ownership  of  the  Missis- 


IV  PREFACE. 

sippi  River,  and  the  territorial  growth  and  integrity  of  the 
Union.  To  portray  those  features  of  this  region  that  make  it 
an  historical  unit  is  the  central  purpose  of  this  book.  But 
as  the  Northwest  is  intimately  dependent  upon  the  Atlantic 
Plain,  a  view  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  as  Constituted  by  the 
Royal  Charters  has  also  been  given.  No  previous  writer  has 
covered  the  ground,  and  the  work  is  wholly  new  in  concep- 
tion. 

Dr.  Edward  A.  Freeman  insists  "  that  the  most  ingenious 
and  eloquent  of  modern  historical  discourses  can,  after  all,  be 
nothing  more  than  a  comment  on  a  text."  Historical  texts 
are  not  history,  but  even  ingenious  and  eloquent  comments 
often  suffer  from  lack  of  a  sufficiency  of  the  text  that  they 
are  written  to  elucidate.  In  this  work,  liberal  quotations 
from  original  documents  will  be  found,  accompanied  by  the 
necessary  discussion.  The  subjects  treated  in  Chapters  VI., 
VII.,  XL,  XII.,  and  XIII.,  in  particular,  cannot  be  satisfac- 
torily handled  in  any  other  way.  Furthermore,  while  these 
documents  are  in  no  sense  rare,  they  do  not  lie  in  the  way  of 
the  common  reader  or  of  the  ordinary  student  or  teacher  of 
history.  This  feature  of  the  work,  it  is  believed,  will  be 
highly  appreciated  by  all  these  classes,  and  especially  by  the 
student  and  the  teacher. 

B.  A.  HlNSDALE. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN, 

ANN  ARBOR,  March  r,  1888. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  NORTH  AMERICA  IN  OUTLINE,  i 

II.  THE  FIRST  DIVISION  OF  NORTH  AMERICA,  .  .  6 

III.  THE  FRENCH  DISCOVER  THE  NORTHWEST,  .  .  21 

IV.  THE  FRENCH  COLONIZE,  THE  NORTHWEST,  .  .  38 

V.    ENGLAND  WRESTS  THE  NORTHWEST  FROM  FRANCE  : 

THE  FIRST  TREATY  OF  PARIS,       .  •      «     •      55 

v  VI.    THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES  AS  CONSTITUTED  BY  THE 

ROYAL  CHARTERS  (I.),          .  .  .  .70 

-^yil.    THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES  AS  CONSTITUTED  BY  THE 

ROYAL  CHARTERS  (II.),         .  .  .  .98 

\ 

. 

.   VIII.    THE  WESTERN  LAND  POLICY  OF  THE  BRITISH  GOV- 

ERNMENT FROM  1763  TO  1775,        .  .  .120 

IX.    THE  NORTHWEST  IN  THE  REVOLUTION,          .  .    147 

THE  UNITED  STATES  WREST  THE  NORTHWEST  FROM 


ENGLAND  :  THE  SECOND  TREATY  OF  PARIS,  .  162 

XI.    THE  NORTHWESTERN  LAND-CLAIMS,     .           .  .  192 

XII.    THE  NORTHWESTERN  CESSIONS  (I.),.     .           .  .  203 

XIII.    THE  NORTHWESTERN  CESSIONS  (II.),.    .           .  .  224 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

XIV.    THE  LAND-ORDINANCE  OF  1785,  .  .  .255 

XV.    THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787,  .;  263 

XVI.    THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  NORTHWEST 

OF  THE  RIVER  OHIO,  ....    280 

XVII.    THE  ADMISSION  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  STATES  TO 

THE  UNION,     ......    317 

XVIII.    SLAVERY  IN  THE  NORTHWEST,    ....    345 
XIX.    THE  CONNECTICUT  WESTERN  RESERVE,          .  .    368 

XX.    A  CENTURY  OF  PROGRESS,          .  «        ,  .  .    393 


LIST  OF  MAPS. 


I.    THE  OLD  NORTHWEST,        .  .  .  Frontispiece. 


PAGE 


\ 


II.    DRAINAGE  FEATURES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  .  .        2 

III.  FRENCH    EXPLORATIONS    AND    POSTS    IN    THE    OLD 

NORTHWEST,       .  .  .  .  .  .38 

IV.  TERRITORY  OF  THE  PRESENT  UNITED  STATES,  1755  T° 

1763,        ....  .      62 

.    TERRITORY  OF  THE  PRESENT  UNITED  STATES  AFTER 

FEBRUARY  10,  1763,     .  .  .  .  .68 

\J  VI.    PROPOSAL  OF  THE  COURT  OF  FRANCE  AT  THE  SECOND 

TREATY  OF  PARIS,         .  .  .  .  .176 

VII.    BOUNDARY-LINES  PROPOSED  AT  THE  SECOND  TREATY 

OF  PARIS,  .  .  .  ...  .     180 

VIII.    TERRITORY  OF  THE  PRESENT  UNITED  STATES  AFTER 

SEPTEMBER  3,  1783,       .....     188 

IX.    TERRITORY  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  ORIGINAL  STATES,        .    200 

X.    MAP  OF  OHIO  SURVEYS,     .....    291 

XI.    THE  OLD  NORTHWEST  IN  1888,     ....    393 


THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 


NORTH  AMERICA  IN  OUTLINE. 

NORTH  AMERICA  is  easily  separable  into  three  very 
plainly  marked  physical  divisions.  The  Pacific  Highlands, 
which  are  a  vast  plateau  surmounted  by  the  Rocky  and  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountain  systems,  extend  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  form  the  primary  feature  of  the 
continent.  The  Atlantic  Highlands,  consisting  of  the  Lab- 
rador Plateau  and  the  Appalachian  Mountain  system, 'with 
the  adjacent  eastern  slope,  extend  from  Labrador  almost  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and  form  the  secondary  feature.  Be- 
tween the  Pacific  Highlands  and  the  Atlantic  Highlands,  ex- 
tending from  the  southern  Gulf  to  the  northern  Ocean,  5,000 
miles  in  length  by  2,000  in  breadth  at  the  widest  part,  and 
opening  out  like  a  fan  to  the  north,  is  the  Central  Plain. 

The  Central  Plain  is  also  easily  separable  into  three  parts. 
First,  the  Arctic  Plain  descends  by  easy  slopes  from  the  wavy 
elevation  called  the  Height  of  Land,  north  and  northeast  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean  and  Hudson  Bay.  Secondly,  south  of  the 
Height  of  Land  and  a  second  similar  elevation  that  takes  off 
from  it,  near  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  and  sweeps  southeast 
and  northeast  until  it  unites  with  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
in  Northern  New  York,  the  Mississippi  Valley  falls  away 
gently  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Thirdly,  between  the  Arctic 
Plain  and  the  Mississippi  Valley  lies  the  Basin  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  that  is  lengthened  eastward  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley. 


' 


2  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  two  sides  of  the  continent,  as  divided  by  the  eastern 
ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  present  the  strongest  con- 
trasts. The  western  side  consists  of  great  mountain  chains, 
attaining  high  elevations,  with  short  and  abrupt  descents  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean ;  the  eastern  side  is  a  vast  plain,  descending 
to  the  Arctic  and  Atlantic  Oceans  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
by  long  and  easy  lines,  save  in  the  southeast,  where  it  is 
interrupted  by  the  moderate  elevation  of  the  Appalachian 
Mountains.  Straight  lines  can  be  drawn  from  the  Arctic 
Ocean  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  from  the  southern  shore  of 
Lake  Ontario  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the  source  of 
the  Ohio  to  the  source  of  the  Kansas,  that  will  at  no  point  rise 
2,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  In  fact,  the  geographer 
passes  over  whole  States  without  finding  any  elevations  of 
surface  that  he  need  represent  upon  a  map  intended  for  com- 
mon purposes. 

On  the  one  side,  and  particularly  south  of  49°  north  lati- 
tude, the  coast  line  is  remarkably  regular ;  on  the  other  side, 
remarkably  irregular. 

On  the  west,  few  rivers  descend  to  the  sea,  and  not  one  of 
these  cuts  through  the  mountain  masses  and  reaches  the  inte- 
rior; on  the  east,  every  subdivision  of  the  Central  Plain  is 
traversed  by  a  great  natural  water-way.  Hudson  Strait,  Hud- 
son Bay,  and  the  Nelson-Winnipeg  River  system  together 
reach  the  very  foot-hills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The 
noble  St.  Lawrence,  cutting  through  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains, opens  a  channel  for  the  Great  Lakes  to  discharge  their 
floods,  and  for  man  to  ascend  to  the  central  parts  of  the  con- 
tinent. The  Mississippi — Father  of  Waters — with  his  35,000 
miles  of  navigable  affluents,  gives  ready  means  of  access  to 
every  part  of  the  great  valley  that  bears  his  name.  If  three 
men  should  ascend  these  three  water-ways  to  their  farthest 
sources,  they  would  find  themselves  in  the  heart  of  North 
America,  and,  so  to  speak,  within  a  stone's-throw  of  one 
another.  One  of  these  water-ways  has  played  hitherto  no 
considerable  part  in  the  affairs  of  civilized  men;  but  the 


NORTH   AMERICA   IN   OUTLINE.  3 

other  two  are  as  prominent  in  the  history  of  America  as  they 
are  in  its  geography. 

The  world  scarcely  offers  a  parallel  to  the  ease  and  celerity 
with  which  the  passage  can  be  made  from  the  upper  waters 
of  any  one  of  these  great  water-ways  to  either  of  the  others. 
"  The  Great  Lakes  occupy  an  elevated  plateau,  the  summit, 
in  fact,  of  the  vast  expanse  of  land  which  spreads  out  between 
the  Alleghanies  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  no  large  streams 
flow  into  them,  and  they  drain  limited  areas ; " '  and  their 
basins  are  separated  from  the  regions  north  and  south  by 
water-sheds  that  in  no  point  rise  to  the  dignity  of  mountains. 
Lake  Superior  is  900  feet  above  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence ; 
Lake  Itasca,  Pittsburg,  and  Cairo  are  1650,  700,  and  300  feet 
respectively  above  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  From  Omaha  west 
along  the  Platte  River,  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  ascends  by 
a  grade  of  five  feet  to  the  mile ;  while  from  St.  Paul  north- 
west to  the  Yellowstone,  the  ascent  is  but  two  feet  to  the 
mile.  In  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin  the  streams 
flowing  in  opposite  directions  often  head  in  the  same  swamps ; 
and  in  times  of  high  water  it  would  almost  be  possible  to 
push  a  flat-bottomed  boat  from  the  Lake  Basin  into  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  The  highest  level  of  the  Ohio  Canal  is  395 
feet,  the  highest  level  of  the  Miami  Canal,  380  feet,  above 
Lake  Erie.  A  simple  pump  suffices  to  carry  the  sewage  of 
Chicago  to  a  level  where  gravitation  takes  it  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. Lake  Michigan  once  had  an  outlet  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  should  the  "  Hennepin  Canal "  ever  be  built,  it 
will  be  an  artificial  outlet. 

In  the  days  when  the  Northwest  was  discovered  and  ex- 
plored, and  again  in  the  days  when  it  was  settled,  the  short 
and  easy  portages  between  the  northern  and  southern  streams, 
scattered  all  the  way  from  Western  New  York  to  Minnesota, 
were  of  very  great  importance. 

The   Appalachian    system    consists  of  several    chains  or 

1  Hubbard  :  Memorials  of  a  Half  Century,  3. 


4  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ranges,  and  the  valleys  lying  between  them.  To  the  ex- 
plorer or  pioneer  attempting  to  reach  the  interior,  they  op- 
posed a  continuous  mountain-wall  from  3,500  to  7,000  feet  in 
height,  a  slight  obstacle,  indeed,  as  compared  with  the  moun- 
tains on  the  other  side  of  the  continent,  but  still  considerable, 
and  playing  no  unimportant  part  in  history.  The  Atlantic 
Plain,  as  the  slope  east  of  these  mountains  is  called,  is  coursed 
by  many  rivers  that  furnish  excellent  harbors  at  their  mouths 
and  render  the  whole  region  readily  accessible  from  the  sea. 
Five  of  these  rivers,  the  Hudson,  the  Delaware,  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  the  Potomac,  and  the  James,  cut  through  the 
mountain-wall.  The  valleys  of  these  rivers  to-day  are  road- 
ways for  great  lines  of  travel  and  transportation  leading  to 
the  West ;  but  when  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  nature, 
only  one  of  them  offered  an  easy  passage  from  the  Atlantic 
Plain  to  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Geologists  tell  us  that  once 
Lake  Ontario  had  an  outlet  to  New  York  Bay ;  and  certain 
it  is  that  by  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk,  the  streams  flowing 
to  the  Lakes  whose  sources  are  intertwined  with  those  of  the 
Mohawk,  and  the  short  and  easy  portages  between  them,  the 
explorer  and  the  colonist  could  readily  have  reached  the  in- 
terior but  for  a  formidable  obstacle  that  will  receive  attention 
in  another  place.  Despite  this  obstacle,  the  site  of  Oswego 
was  visited  by  Englishmen  before  the  site  of  Pittsburg;  while 
it  was  through  the  Mohawk  Valley  that  the  first  canal  and 
railroad  were  built  connecting  the  East  and  the  West.  From 
New  York  Bay  to  the  St.  Lawrence  extends  a  deep  valley 
that  cuts  the  mountains  asunder;  Hudson  River  fills  the 
southern  half,  Lake  Champlain  and  the  River  Richelieu  the 
northern  half,  of  this  valley  ;  and  these  waters,  together  with 
the  easy  "  divide  "  between  them,  have  played  a  very  impor- 
tant part  in  American  history  from  the  very  first. 

These  geographical  features  of  our  continent  have  been 
boldly  sketched,  because  they  have  had  the  greatest  influence 
upon  the  course  of  American,  and  particularly  of  Western- 
American,  history.  Had  some  convulsion  of  nature  lowered 


NORTH   AMERICA   IN   OUTLINE.  5 

the  Appalachian  Mountains  to  the  level  of  the  country  east 
and  west  at  the  time  the  first  English  colonies  were  founded 
on  the  Atlantic  slope,  or  thrown  up  a  system  of  mountains  as 
high  as  the  Appalachians  along  the  low  water-sheds  that  sep- 
arate the  Lake  Basin  and  the  Arctic  Plain  from  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  when  the  first  French  settlements  in  Canada 
were  planted,  no  one  can  tell  in  what  different  lines  history 
would  have  run.  Nor  can  one  rightly  estimate  the  prodigious 
influence  upon  the  Northwest  of  the  fact  that  it  lies  partly 
within  the  Lake  Basin  and  partly  within  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, and  that  it  holds  in  its  bosom  all  the  rivers  flowing  to 
the  Lakes  on  the  south,  and  to  the  Mississippi  on  the  west, 
from  the  Ohio  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior. 

Speaking  relatively,  North  America  has  an  open  and  a 
closed  side ;  and  fortunately  it  is  the  open  side  that  faces 
Europe. 


II. 

THE    FIRST  DIVISION   OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

FOR  two  hundred  years  after  its  discovery,  North  America 
had  no  independent  life  and  history.  The  seeds  of  future 
American  questions  were  being  thickly  planted,  but  for  the 
time  no  such  questions  appeared.  The  continent  was  the 
theatre  of  European  ambition,  strife,  and  endeavor.  Three 
great  nations  played  each  an  important  part  in  the  drama — 
Spain,  France,  and  England.  We  are  now  to  see  how  the 
country  was  first  divided  among  them. 

I.  THE  SPANIARDS  IN  THE  GULF  OF  MEXICO. 

The  Spaniards  had  not  firmly  established  themselves  in  the 
West  Indies  before  they  plunged  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Columbus  himself  was  on  the  coast  of 
South  America  in  1498,  and  on  the  coast  of  Central  America 
in  1502  and  1503.  Balboa  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  and 
discovered  and  named  the  South  Sea,  in  1513.  Cortez  began 
the  conquest  of  Mexico  in  1519,  and  Pizarro  that  of  Peru  in 
1526.  In  1512  Ponce  de  Leon  discovered  and  named  Florida. 
Miruelo  ran  along  the  western  .sidet^C  the  peninsula  as_  far  as 
Pensacola  in  1516.  In  1519  Pineda  coasted  the  northern 
shore  ot  the  Gulf  as  far  as  Panuco,  in  Mexico,  and  on  his  re- 
turn discovered  the  Mississippi  River,  which  was  first  called 
"The  River  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  In  1520  Ayllon  sailed  to 
the  coast  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina ;  and  five  years  later 
;he  continued  his  explorations  as  far  as  Virginia,  where  he 
planted  an  ill-fated  settlement  on  the  future  site  of  James- 
town. In  1527  De  Narvaez  conducted  an  unfortunate  expe- 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION    OF   NORTH  AMERICA.  ^ 

\ 

dition  to  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf.  He  lost  his  life 
while  crossing  the  stream  of  the  Mississippi  out  at  sea,  but  De 
Vaca,  one  of  his  lieutenants,  and  a  few  others,  survived  the 
perils  of  the  deep  and  of  the  land,  to  tell  in  after-years  one  of 
the  most  romantic  tales  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can exploration.  Hernando  de  Soto,  Governor  of  Cuba,  hav- 
ing obtained  from  Charles  V.  a  grant  of  the  country  from 
Florida  to  the  River  of  Palms,  landed  at  Tampa  Bay  in  1539 
with  a  large  and  well-appointed  command.  He  hoped  to  find 
a  rich  Indian  kingdom,  such  as  Pizarro  had  found  in  Peru  and 
Cortez  in  Mexico.  After  two  years'  marching  in  the  interior, 
De  8oto,  disappointed  in  his  search,  found  himself  in  latitude 
35°  north,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  Crossing 
the  river,  he  continued  his  march  many  hundreds  of  miles  to 
the  northwest ;  but,  still  disappointed,  he  returned  the  next 
year  to  the  river,  his  command  greatly  reduced  by  battle,  dis- 
ease, and  famine,  and  himself  wasted  in  body  and  broken  in 
spirit,  where  he  died.  In  the  sonorous  language  of  Bancroft : 
"  His  soldiers  pronounced  his  eulogy  by  grieving  for  their 
loss  ;  the  priests  chanted  over  his  body  the  first  requiems  that 
were  ever  heard  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  To  conceal 
his  death,  his  body  was  wrapped  in  a  mantle,  and  in  the  still- 
ness of  midnight  was  silently  sunk  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream.  The  wanderer  had  crossed  a  large  part  of  the  conti- 
nent in  his  search  for  gold,  and  found  nothing  so  remarkable 
as  his  burial-place."  l  His  surviving  companions  fled  down  the 
river  to  the  Gulf,  and  made  their  way  to  their  countrymen 
in  Mexico.  At  the  same  time  that  De  Soto  was  seeking  his 
imaginary  El  Dorado  in  the  region  south  of  the  Missouri, 
Coronado,  who  had  come  overland  from  Mexico,  was 
searching  in  the  same  region  for  the  fabled  "  Seven  cities  of 
Cibola."  The  two  commands  were  so  near  each  other  "  that 
an  Indian  runner,  in  a  few  days,  might  have  carried  tidings 
between  them ;  "  in  fact,  "  Coronado  actually  heard  of  his 

1  History  :  6- volume  edition,  1876,  I.,  50. 


8  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

countryman,  and  sent  him  a  letter,  but  his  messenger  failed 
to  find  De  Soto's  party."  *  Spaniards  had  now  virtually  met 
in  the  centre  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  coming  from  points  as 
distant  as  Tampa  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  California ;  they  had 
found  no  El  Dorado  or  Cibola,  and  they  gave  over  the  at- 
tempt at  exploration  and  conquest  in  these  regions. 

In  no  important  sense  did  the  Spanish  discoveries  make 
known  the  Mississippi  to  the  world.  Holding  the  shore  line 
from  Florida  to  Mexico,  Spain,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  had 
the  finest  opportunity  ever  offered  any  nation  to  explore, 
occupy,  and  possess  the  Mississippi  Valley ;  the  Appalachi- 
cola,  the  Mobile,  the  Colorado,  and,  above  all,  the  Mississippi 
itself,  invited  her  to  ascend  them  and  people  their  banks. 
No  powerful  Indian  nation  was  on  the  soil  to  oppose  her, 
no  European  rival  was  present  to  deny  her  right.  Why  did 
she  not  do  so  ?  The  answer  is  one  of  the  exploded  theories  of 
political  economy.  In  that  age  Europeans  generally,  and 
Spaniards  particularly,  held  to  the  "  Bullion  Theory  : "  The 
precious  metals  are  the  only  form  of  wealth.  Not  finding 
them  in  the  region  visited  by  De  Soto,  Spain  fixed  her  atten- 
tion on  regions  where  she  had  already  found  them  ;  and  so 
intent  was  she  on  the  mines  of  Mexico  and  South  America, 
that  her  gallions  ploughed  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  for  one  hun- 
dred years,  ignorant  or  regardless  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
crossing  and  recrossing  before  a  portal  that  stood  always  open 
to  admit  them  to  the  richest  valley  in  the  world.  So  indif- 
ferent was  Spain  to  her  opportunity  that  in  the  next  century 
she  allowed  the  Mississippi  to  slip  from  her  hands  to  those 
of  France,  without  serious  protest.  When  another  century 
had  gone,  she  awoke  from  her  indifference,  and  made  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  recall  the  mistake.  Unfortunately  for  her,  but 
fortunately  for  the  world,  it  was  too  late.  Fortunately  for 
the  world  :  for  what  greater  calamity  could  have  befallen  civ- 
ilization on  this  continent  than  a  South  America  or  a  Mexico 

1  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  II.,  292. 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION    OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  9 

planted  between  the  Alleghany  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  ? 
Still,  Spain,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  founded  two  settlements 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States.  Santa  Fe, 
hidden  away,  in  1582,  in  one  of  the  upper  valleys  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  never  played  any  part  in  history  until  our  own  times. 
But  to  hold  Florida  against  all  comers  was  to  Spain  a  simple 
necessity.  The  peninsula  offered  an  excellent  base  for  attack- 
ing the  fleets  that  bore  the  spoil  of  the  East  Indies,  Mexico, 
and  Peru  from  Vera  Cruz  and  Carthagena  to  Spain,  as  well 
as  for  menacing  the  islands  at  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  ;  and 
"  the  hurricanes  of  the  tropics  had  already  strewn  the  Florida 
coast  with  the  fragments  of  Spanish  wrecks." '  Hence  the 
savage  vigor  with  which  she  expelled  the  Huguenot  colonies 
from  Northern  Florida,  and  the  persistence  with  which  she 
held  the  English  colonists  on  the  north  at  bay  down  to  1763, 
when  she  surrendered  the  peninsula  as  the  price  of  the  Queen 
of  the  Antilles.  St.  Augustine,  founded  in  1565,  a  castle 
rather  than  a  colony,  was  the  key  to  the  positions  of  Spain 
in  the  Gulf  and  in  the  East  India  seas. 

II.  THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE. 

Verrazzano  in  1524  led  the  first  French  official  exploring 
expedition  to  North  America.  He  sailed  along  the  coast  from 
latitude  32°  to  Newfoundland,  landing  at  many  places,  and 
visiting  New  York  Bay,  and  therv  returned  to  France.  This 
voyage,  which  added  considerably  to  contemporary  knowledge 
of  America,  and  led  to  other  and  more  important  voyages, 
gave  color  to  the  claim  that  France  afterward  made  to  the 
whole  coast  within  the  extreme  points  that  Verrazzano 
touched.  James  Cartie^  also  with  a  French  commission, 
made  three  voyages  to  the  northern  parts  of  the  continent  in 
I534>  l$35,  and  1540.  In  1534  he  explored  the  coast  of  New- 
foundland and  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  visited 
Labrador,  and  discovered  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  Hoping 

1  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  IL,  254. 


10  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

that  this  river  was  the  long-sought  passage  to  Cathay,  Cartier 
sailed  up  its  current  to  Stadeconna,  the  Indian  name  of  Que- 
bec. Leaving  here  his  ships,  he  pushed  on  with  two  or  three 
boats  and  a  few  companions  to  Hochelaga,  an  Indian  town 
on  the  present  site  of  Montreal.  It  was  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember ;  the  northern  forests  were  putting  on  their  gorgeous 
autumn  garments,  and  the  Frenchmen  could  not  sufficiently 
admire  the  beauty  of  the  country.  Cartier  visited  Stadeconna 
and  Hochelaga  again  in  1540,  when  he  took  possession  of 
Canada,  as  the  Indians  called  the  country,  in  the  name  of  his 
royal  master,  by  raising  a  cross  surmounted  by  the  fleur-de- 
lis,  and  emblazoned  with  the  legend :  FRANCISCUS  PRIMUS, 
DEI  GRATIA  PRANCORUM  REX  REGNAT.  Attempts  to  Col- 

onize  the  valley  were  immediately  made,  but  they  ended  in 
failure. 

Samuel  de  Champlain  was  the  father  of  Canada.  He  came 
to  America  with  Pontgrav£,  in  1603.  Sent  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Hochelaga,  he  was  filled,  like  Cartier,  with  admira- 
tion as  he  viewed  the  country,  and  was  at  once  convinced  that 
this  valley,  and  not  Acadia,  must  be  the  seat  of  the  future 
French-American  Empire.  Deeply  patriotic  and  fervently 
religious,  Champlain  longed  to  plant  among  the  forests  and 
waters  of  the  north  a  colony  that  should  shed  lustre  on  the 
arms  of  France  and  extend  the  bounds  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  forests  and  waters  abounded  in  the  valuable  furs  that, 
next  to  gold  and  silver,  were  the  prime  object  of  search  to  the 
first  American  colonists ;  they  would  shield  a  colony  from  its 
enemies ;  while  the  great  river  that  was  lost  in  unknown  re- 
gions of  mystery  would  probably  lead  on  to  the  lands  of 
Marco  Polo.  He  returned  to  France  burning  with  desire  to 
carry  out  this  purpose.  His  coveted  opportunity  soon  came ; 
in  1608  he  had  the  great  happiness  to  plant,  under  the  rock 
of  Quebec,  the  first  permanent  French  settlement  in  Canada. 
The  next  year  he  plunged  into  the  wilds  of  Northern  New 
York,  where,  near  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  he  met  a  war 
party  of  Mohawk  Indians.  Although  he  destroyed  the  party, 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  II 

Champlain  was  so  much  impressed  by  their  courage,  and  by 
what  he  heard  of  the  formidable  confederacy  to  which  they 
belonged,  that  on  returning  to  Canada  he  directed  his  atten- 
tion to  the  north  and  west,  where  he  found  man,  if  not  nature, 
more  tractable. 

The  Gulf  and  River  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  streams  that 
fall  into  the  river  on  the  north,  gave  the  French  easy  entrance 
to  the  interior  of  the  great  continent.  Ascending  to  the 
head  of  Lake  Huron  by  the  Ottawa,  Lake  Nipissing,  and 
Georgian  Bay,  they  were  at  the  foot  of  Lakes  Michigan  and 
Superior,  that  stand  to  the  Northwest  in  some  such  relation 
as  the  lung-lobes  to  the  human  body.  Ascending  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  they  had 
turned  the  left  flank  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  and 
gained  the  edge  of  that  vast  plain  which  stretches  away  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Rio  Grande.  The  use  that  they 
made  of  these  advantages  will  form  the  subject  of  a  future 
chapter. 

It  was  most  fortunate  that  Champlain  concluded  not  to 
invade  the  seats  of  the  Iroquois,  but  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
New  France  farther  to  the  north.  Had  he  persisted  in  his 
first  purpose,  and  been  successful,  he  would  have  made  the  re- 
gion in  which  the  Genesee  and  the  Richelieu,  the  Hudson 
and  the  Delaware,  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Ohio  take  their 
rise  French  territory,  and  so  have  given  the  French  the  advant- 
age of  a  position  that  two  great  generals  have  called  the  key  to 
the  eastern  half  of  the  United  States.1  As  it  was,  Champlain 
fully  won  the  title  accorded  him  :  "  Father  of  New  France." 
The  planting  of  Quebec  was  the  most  important  event  that 
had  taken  place  in  North  America  since  its  discovery,  save 
only  the  planting  of  Jamestown  the  previous  year. 

1  "General  Scott,  standing  on  the  field  of  Bemus  Heights,  declared  this  Com- 
monwealth  [New  York]  to  hold  the  military  key  of  the  continent  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  on  the  same  spot,  General  Grant  confirmed  the  judgment"  Roberts  : 
New  York,  in  Commonwealth  Series,  L,  124. 


12  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 


III.  THE  ENGLISH  ON  THE  ATLANTIC  PLAIN. 

John  Cabot,  sailing  with  a  commission  from  Henry  VII. 
of  England,  discovered  North  America  in  1497.  His  son 
Sebastian  visited  it  again  in  1498.  How  much  of  the  coast 
these  navigators  skirted,  is  matter  of  controversy ;  some  say 
the  whole  coast  from  36°  to  67°  north  latitude.  But  it  is 
certain  that  the  elder  Cabot  made  his  landfall  a  year  and 
more  before  Columbus  touched  the  shore  of  the  sister  conti- 
nent. Both  the  Cabots  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the 
name  of  the  English  king,  and  English  historians,  statesmen, 
and  jurists  have  always  based  on  these  voyages  England's 
claim  to  that  portion  of  North  America  which  fell  to  her  at 
the  first  apportionment. 

For  a  long  time,  owing  to  her  unwillingness  to  offend 
Spain,  to  her  absorption  in  attempts  to  find  the  northeast  and 
northwest  passages,  to  her  domestic  troubles,  and  to  her  indif- 
ference, England  took  little  interest  in  the  new  empire  that 
the  Cabots  had  given  her ;  but  toward  the  close  of  the  six- 
teenth century  she  began  to  awake  to  her  opportunity,  and 
to  take  an  interest  in  western  planting.  Her  first  colony  was 
Jamestown,  planted  in  1607  ;  and  between  that  date  and 
1733  she  had  absorbed  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  on  the 
Hudson  and  the  Delaware,  and  divided  the  whole  coast,  often 
by  boundary  lines  that  ran  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  into  thirteen 
colonies. 

Both  in  respect  to  character  and  geographical  position,  the 
colonists  of  the  Atlantic  Plain  present  strong  points  of  con- 
trast to  those  on  the  Gulf  coast  and  those  in  the  St.  Lawrence 
Valley.  They  were  not  adventurers  thirsting  for  gold  and 
conquest,  like  the  Spaniards ;  nor  were  they  trappers,  traders 
in  furs,  voyageurs,  and  priests  intent  on  Indian  evangelization, 
like  the  French.  There  was,  indeed,  in  most  of  the  thirteen 
colonies  a  considerable  infusion  of  adventure,  but  it  took  the 
direction  of  business  rather  than  of  conquest.  Nearly  all  the 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  13 

English  colonists  were  interested  in  industry,  trade,  and  poli- 
tics ;  and  many  of  them,  as  the  New  Englanders  and  Mary- 
landers,  came  seeking  in  the  wilderness  those  religious  and 
civil  rights  that  were  denied  them  at  home.  They  were  not 
blind  to  the  advantage  of  the  fur  trade,  nor  wholly  indifferent 
to  the  religious  state  of  the  Indians ;  but  Indian  trade  was  the 
smaller  part  of  their  commerce,  and  their  religious  zeal  took 
the  direction  of  establishing  a  new  church  where  they  could 
themselves  live  at  peace  rather  than  of  converting  the  savages 
to  the  old  one.  Accordingly,  they  were  more  than  content 
to  plant  their  settlements  by  the  sea. 

Then  the  English  seem  to  have  been  more  thoroughly  than 
either  the  French  or  the  Spaniards  under  the  influence  of  those 
false  ideas  of  the  North  American  continent  that  did  so  much 
to  shape  the  course  of  history. 

To  the  imagination  of  Europe,  America  was  first  an  archi- 
pelago. The  explanation  of  this  belief  is  due  to  several  cir- 
cumstances :  to  Columbus's  expectation  that  he  would  first 
come  to  the  outlying  Asiatic  islands ;  to  his  belief  that  the 
West  Indies  were  the  islands  that  he  expected  to  find ;  and 
to  the  fact  that  the  early  voyagers  to  North  America  touched 
the  coast  at  widely  separated  parts,  which  geographers  were 
unable  for  a  long  time  properly  to  connect.  In  1660  Endicott 
called  New  England  "this  Patmos,"  and  as  late  as  1740  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  directed  letters  to  the  "  Island  of  New 
England." 

Navigators  and  geographers  next  conceived  of  our  conti- 
nent as  a  long  and  narrow  strip  of  land  running  north  and 
south,  cut  by  water-ways  that  connected  the  two  oceans. 
Most  evident  signs  that  a  great  continent  lay  behind  the  shore 
that  seamen  touched  at  points  as  remote  as  Labrador  and 
Mexico,  such  as  the  great  rivers  that  came  down  to  the  sea, 
were  constantly  disregarded.  "A  Mapp  of  Virginia"  sold  in 
London  in  1651  lays  down  Hudson  River  as  communicating 
by  "a  mighty  great  lake  "with  "the  sea  of  China  and  the 
Indies,"  and  carries  a  legend  running  along  the  shore  of  Call- 


14  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

fornia,  "  whose  happy  shores  (in  ten  days'  march  with  fifty 
foot  and  thirty  horsemen  from  the  head  of  James  River,  over 
those  hills  and  through  the  rich  adjacent  valleys  beautifyed 
with  as  profitable  rivers  which  necessarily  must  run  into  that 
peacefull  Indian  sea)  may  be  discovered  to  the  exceeding 
benefit  of  Great  Britain  and  joye  of  all  true  English."  '  An  of- 
ficial map  of  Maryland,  published  in  1670,  and  certified  by  a 
competent  authority  to  be  by  "  no  means  a  bad  one,"  represents 
the  Alleghanies  above  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  and  gives 
this  description  of  them :  "  These  mighty  high  and  great  Moun- 
taines,  trending  N.E.  and  S.W.  and  W.S.W.,  is  supposed  to 
be  the  very  middle  ridg  of  Northern  America  and  the  only 
Natural  cause  of  the  fierceness  and  extreame  stormy  cold 
winds  that  come  northwest  from  thence  all  over  this  continent 
and  makes  frost." a  This  conception  of  North  America  ex- 
plains the  endeavors  of  Smith,  Hudson,  and  Cartier  to  find 
the  India  road  in  the  rivers  that  they  explored.  It  explains 
also  the  fact  that  Captain  Newport,  in  1608,  brought  over 
from  England  a  barge  so  constructed  that  it  could  be  taken  to 
pieces  and  then  put  together,  with  which  he  and  his  company 
were  instructed  to  ascend  the  James  River  as  far  as  the  falls, 
then  to  carry  their  barge  beyond  the  falls  and  descend  to  the 
south  sea,  "  being  ordered  not  to  return  without  a  lump  of  gold 
as  a  certainty  of  the  said  sea."  This  persistent  misconception 
of  North  America  was  due  to  that  mental  prepossession  which 
prevented  men  seeing  any  insuperable  obstacle  to  their  find- 
ing a  western  sea-road  to  the  Indies,  and  to  the  fact  that  Bal- 
boa, Drake,  and  others,  from  the  mountains  of  Darien,  had  seen 
the  two  oceans  that  wash  its  shores.  It  is  well  to  illustrate 
this  false  notion  thus  at  length,  because  evidences  of  its  influ- 
ence in  history  are  abundant. 

Shut  but  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards,  and 
from  the  River  St.  Lawrence  by  the  French ;  not  caring  to 


1  Narrative  and  Critical  History,  III.,  465. 

8  Browne  :  Maryland,  in  the  Commonwealth  Series,  IOO. 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION   OF    NORTH   AMERICA.  1 5 

venture  far  from  the  coast  inland,  and  actually  confined  to  it 
by  a  great  physical  cause,  the  English  were  much  slower  than 
their  rivals  in  seeing  in  North  America  a  vast  continent. 

Then,  when  the  English  colonists  ascended  from  one  to  two 
hundred  miles  the  rivers  coursing  the  Atlantic  Plain  they 
found  themselves  confronted  by  the  Appalachian  wall  and 
their  further  progress  arrested.  Accustomed  to  pass  and  re- 
pass  these  mountains  in  a  few  hours'  time  at  a  dozen  points, 
it  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  how,  at  that  day,  they  im- 
pressed the  imaginations  of  men  and  retarded  the  spread  of 
settlements  to  the  West.  The  southern  Indians  called  them 
the  "  Endless  Mountains,"  the  English,  sometimes,  "  the  Great 
Mountains." 

The  memorials  of  the  first  emigrants  to  Ohio,  although 
the  best  natural  roads  had  now  been  discovered  and  im- 
proved, and  all  obstruction  from  the  Indians  had  ceased,  tell 
us  how  difficult  of  passage  they  found  these  mountain  ridges. 
In  fact,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  safest,  easiest,  and 
quickest  line  of  travel  from  Philadelphia  or  Baltimore  to  Cen- 
tral Kentucky,  or  even  to  Fort  Hamilton,  that  stood  on  the 
present  site  of  Cincinnati,  led  to  Wadkins'  Ferry  on  the  Po- 
tomac ;  thence  up  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  through  Martins- 
burg,  Winchester,  and  Staunton  ;  thence  over  the  "divide" 
to  New  River  and  on  to  Cumberland  Gap — the  "  Wilder- 
ness Road"  of  early  Western  emigration,  the  "Valley  Road'' 
of  recent  warfare — and  thence  by  Crab  Orchard  and  Lex- 
ington to  the  Ohio.1 

At  the  north,  Nature  had  indeed  prepared  a  highway  to 
the  West ;  but  the  Mohawk  Valley  was  exposed  to  attack 
from  Canada,  as  the  burning  of  Schenectady  shows,  while  the 
people  of  the  Long  House  blocked  the  Englishman's  way  to 
the  Lake  Basin  almost  as  effectually  as  they  blocked  the 
Frenchman's  way  to  the  sources  of  the  Delaware  and  the 
Susquehanna.  The  Iroquois  were  generally  friendly  to  the 

1  Speed  :  The  Wilderness  Road,  12,  23. 


l6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

English  and  hostile  to  the  French ;  but  that  haughty,  jealous 
race  were  but  little  more  disposed  to  see  their  ancestral  seats 
invaded  by  their  friends  than  by  their  foes. 

The  facts  now  presented  account  for  the  extreme  tardiness 
of  the  English  colonists  in  entering  the  country  west  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains.  It  is  related  that  one  Colonel  Abra- 
ham Wood,  who  dwelt  at  the  falls  of  the  Appomattox,  with 
a  party  of  hunters  and  traders,  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  and 
discovered  New  River  in  1654.  It  is  said  that  a  Captain 
Henry  Batte,  in  1666,  coming  also  from  Appomattox,  crossed 
the  mountains,  and  followed  for  some  distance  a  stream  flow- 
ing westward.  It  is  further  related  that  a  Captain  Bolton 
reached  the  Mississippi  in  1670;  that  a  party  of  New  Eng- 
landers,  in  1677,  made  their  way  overland  to  New  Mexico, 
and  on  their  return  told  their  story  to  the  Boston 'authorities; 
and  that  Virginians  were  at  the  falls  of  the  Kanawha  in  1671. 
To  find  authority  for  these  reports,  or  any  of  them,  seems  a 
hopeless  undertaking.  Parkman  says  neither  the  Wood  nor 
the  Bolton  tale  is  "sustained  by  sufficient  authority,"  and 
he  pronounces  the  Boston  story  "without  proof  and  im- 
probable." ' 

The  tenacity  with  which  the  English  colonists  clung  to 
the  coast,  their  meagre  ideas  of  the  continent  behind  them, 
and  the  lack  of  romantic  elements  in  their  life,  are  well  illus- 
trated in  Governor  Spotswood's  famous  adventure  to  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley  in  August  and  September,  1716.  We  have 
the  authority  of  the  governor  for  saying  that  a  company  of 
Virginians  ascended  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  "  Tho'  they 
had  hitherto  been  thought  to  be  unpassable,"  in  1610;  but  he 
himself  was  the  first  to  lead  the  way  into  the  valley  beyond. 
Attended  by  some  members  of  his  staff,  Spotswood  pro- 
ceeded in  his  coach  from  Williamsburg  to  the  frontier.  Here 
he  was  joined  by  some  Virginia  gentlemen  and  their  retainers, 
a  company  of  rangers,  and  four  Indians,  fifty  persons  in  all. 

1  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West     Introduction. 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  I/ 

Taking  to  horse,  the  gay  company  took  their  westward 
way  by  the  upper  Rappahannock.  On  the  thirty-sixth  day 
from  Williamsburg  they  scaled  the  mountains,  and  saw  the 
valley  beyond  that  has  commanded  so  much  admiration. 
After  drinking  the  king's  health,  they  descended  the  western 
slope  to  the  river,  which  they  crossed  and  named  the 
"  Euphrates."  The  governor  took  formal  possession  of  the 
region  for  George  I.  of  England.  Much  light  is  thrown  upon 
the  convivial  habits  of  Virginians  at  that  time  by  an  entry 
found  in  the  diary  of  the  chronicler.  "  We  got  all  the  men 
together  and  loaded  their  arms,  and  we  drank  the  king's 
health  in  champagne  and  fired  a  volley,  the  princess'  health 
in  Burgundy  and  fired  a  volley,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
royal  family  in  claret  and  a  volley ;  we  drank  the  governor's 
health  and  'fired  another  volley.  We  had  several  sorts  of 
liquors :  viz.,  Virginia  red  wine  and  white  wine,  Irish  usque- 
baugh, brandy,  shrub,  two  sorts  of  rum,  champagne,  canary, 
cherry  punch,  cider,  etc."  The  lapse  of  eight  weeks  and  the 
distance  of  440  miles  travelled,  going  and  coming,  brought 
Spotswood  back  to  Williamsburg.  He  now  celebrated  the 
hardships  of  the  journey  by  creating  the  "  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Horseshoe."  To  ascend  the  mountains  the  horses 
had  been  shod  with  iron,  which  was  unnecessary  in  tide-water 
Virginia ;  and  the  governor  caused  small  golden  horseshoes, 
set  with  jewels  and  inscribed  with  the  legend,  Sic  juvat  trans- 
cendere  monies,  to  be  made  in  London  and  distributed  among 
his  companions.  This  expedition  was  important  in  results, 
but  its  most  noticeable  feature  is  its  date,  1716.  This  was 
one  hundred  and  nine  years  after  the  landing  at  Jamestown, 
and  thirty-four  years  after  La  Salle  had  navigated  the  Missis- 
sippi from  the  Illinois  to  the  Gulf.  Spotswood's  main  ob- 
ject was  to  study  the  relation  of  the  Virginia  frontier  to  the 
French  in  the  Lake  country.  How  little  advantage  he  de- 
rived from  his  observations  and  inquiries  of  the  Indians  is 
well  told  in  this  paragraph  from  one  of  his  letters,  written 
in  1718 : 

2 


1 8  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  The  chief  aim  of  my  expedition  over  the  great  mountains, 
in  1716,  was  to  satisfy  myself  whether  it  was  practicable  to 
come  at  the  Lakes.  Having  on  that  occasion  found  an  easy 
passage  over  that  great  ridge  of  mountains  w'ch  before  were 
judged  impassable,  I  also  discovered,  by  the  relation  of  Indians 
who  frequent  those  parts,  that  from  the  pass  where  I  was  it  is 
but  three  days'  march  to  a  great  nation  of  Indians  living  on  a 
river  w'ch  discharges  itself  in  the  Lake  Erie  ;  that  from  ye 
western  side  of  one  of  the  small  mountains  w'ch  I  saw  that  lake 
is  very  visible,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  above  five  days'  inarch 
from  the  pass  aforementioned,  and  that  the  way  thither  is  also 
very  practicable,  the  mountains  to  the  westward  of  the  great 
ridge  being  smaller  than  those  I  passed  on  the  eastern  side, 
w'ch  shews  how  easy  a  matter  it  is  to  gain  possession  of  those 
lakes."  l 

A  Who  the  first  Englishmen  were  to  pass  the  Great  Moun- 
tains and  descend  the  streams  flowing  to  the  setting  sun,  can 
never  be  known.  They  undoubtedly  belonged  to  that  class 
of  Indian  hunters  who,  following  every  stream  to  its  head- 
spring, and  entering  every  gap  in  the  mountain  ranges,  dis- 
covered the  path  leading  from  the  Potomac  by  Wills'  Creek 
to  the  Ohio  in  1748,  and  who,  a  little  later,  "gave  names  to 
the  streams  and  ridges  of  Tennessee,  annually  passed  the 
Cumberland  Gap,  and  chased  game  in  the  basin  of  the  Cum- 
berland River." '  They  are  men  who  have  no  individuality, 
as  have  the  French  discoverers  in  the  north  and  west.  The 
influence  of  the  Colonial  character  in  confining  the  English 
to  the  sea-shore  has  been  pointed  out ;  the  reflex  of  that  con- 
finement upon  the  Colonial  character  and  life  will  receive  at- 
tention in  another  place ;  but  here  the  observation  may  be 
dropped  that  the  colonists  were  a  long  time  developing  the 


1  Cooke,  Virginia,  in  the  Commonwealth  Series,  314,  315,  and  Waddell,  An- 
nals of  Augusta  County,  6-9,  give  accounts  of  the  Spotswood  expedition.  The 
passages  quoted  are  from  Waddell. 

'Bancroft  :  History,  II.,  362;  III.,  63. 


THE   FIRST   DIVISION   OF   NORTH   AMERICA.  19 

typical  Indian  hunter  and  fighter.  Such  men  as  Boone  and 
Kenton  and  Wetzel  belong  to  the  country  west  of  the  moun- 
tains. 

By  a  sort  of  tacit  agreement,  the  three  powers  adopted 
priority  of  discovery  as  the  rule  for  dividing  and  appropriat- 
ing North  America.  Spain  was  at  first  disposed  to  claim  the 
whole  continent  under  the  papal  bull  of  1493  ;  but  the  mari- 
time enterprise,  military  and  naval  power,  and  diplomatic 
force  of  England  and  France  compelled  her  to  admit  them  to 
a  share  of  the  spoil.  The  Spanish  navigators  and  explorers 
from  Columbus  to  De  Soto  gave  the  Gulf  region  to  Spain ; 
Cartier  gave  the  St.  Lawrence  to  France ;  the  Cabots,  the  At- 
lantic Plain  to  England. 

The  adjustment  of  territorial  claims  and  rights  was  a  long 
and  difficult  process ;  and  it  was  only  as  the  principle  of  use 
and  settlement,  and  even  the  sword,  was  brought  in  to  help 
out  discovery  that  points  of  dispute  were  ever  settled.  The 
recognition  by  Spain  of  discovery  as  the  ground  of  title  left 
unanswered  the  question  where  the  boundary  line  should  be 
drawn  between  Florida  and  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  and 
the  question  was  never  put  at  rest  until  she  yielded  the  whole 
peninsula  in  1763.  France  at  first  claimed  the  Atlantic  coast 
south  of  Nova  Scotia  under  the  voyage  of  Verrazzano ;  but 
the  failure  of  the  Huguenot  colonies  in  Carolina  and  Florida, 
and  the  resolution  of  England  in  insisting  upon  the  Cabot 
title,  led  France  to  yield  that  shore,  and  to  content  her  ambi- 
tion with  the  north.  The  Cabots  discovered  the  northeastern 
coast  years  before  the  first  French  navigator  crossed  the  ocean  ; 
but  as  England  did  not  follow  up  discovery  with  settlement, 
and  as  the  French  made  greater  discoveries  in  that  quarter,  a 
vast  region  that  might  have  been  England's  fell  to  France. 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  in  the  patent  that  he  gave  to  De  Monts, 
carried  the  southern  boundary  of  ACadia  to  the  latitude  of 
Philadelphia  ;  and  the  English  kingslapped  their  charters  over 
upon  the  French,  as  we  shall  soon  see.  Again,  under  the  rule 


20  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

of  priority  Spain  was  entitled  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  ;  but, 
like  England  on  the  northeast  coast,  she  did  not  follow  dis- 
covery with  occupation,  and  so  the  valley  fell  to  France,  who 
entered  it  from  the  north.  This  brought  France  and  England 
into  collision  along  the  western  side  of  the  Alleghanies,  as 
well  as  in  the  northeast  and  north.  In  general,  the  disputes 
as  to  the  rightful  ownership  of  a  given  region  of  territory  grew 
out  of  one  or  both  of  two  circumstances :  a  disagreement  as  to 
who  the  first  discoverer  was,  or  a  disagreement  as  to  how  far 
the  rights  resulting  from  his  discovery  extended.  Every  one 
of  the  powers  admitted  that  the  others  had  territorial  rights, 
but  their  quarrels  never  ended  until  France  retired  from  the 
continent. 

The  remark  should  be  added  that  it  is  impossible  to  repre- 
sent correctly  these  facts  on  maps.  The  names ' "  Acadia," 
"  Virginia,"  and  "  Florida  "  stand  for  very  different  things  at 
different  times ;  and  at  no  particular  time,  for  a  full  century 
following  Jamestown,  were  their  boundary  lines  defined.  The 
lines  of  delimitation,  drawn  on  the  most  carefully  constructed 
maps,  answer  but  a  vague  general  purpose.  The  French  in- 
cluded Plymouth  and  New  Amsterdam  in  Acadia,  and  Spanish 
maps  of  the  seventeenth  century  sometimes  carry  Florida  be- 
yond Quebec.  But  more  absurd  than  this,  some  sixteenth- 
century  geographers,  and  notably  the  Dutch,  "  out  of  spite  to 
the  Spaniards,"  include  the  whole  of  both  North  and  South 
America  in  New  France. l 

1  Farkman  :  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  183,  184,  note. 


III. 

THE  FRENCH   DISCOVER  THE  NORTHWEST. 

WHAT  ready  access  to  the  heart  of  North  America  the 
Saint  Lawrence  gave  the  French,  was  pointed  out  in  the  first 
and  second  chapters.  We  are  now  to  see  what  use  they  made 
of  their  opportunity. 

The  advantages  of  the  position  harmonized  admirably  with 
the  French  character,  particularly  as  developed  under  the 
new  conditions,  and  with  the  great  ideas  that  underlay  New 
France.  These  northern  colonists  shrunk  from  a  life  of  ma- 
terial development  like  that  of  their  southern  neighbors ; 
they  had  some  agriculture,  but  they  were  not  such  tillers  of 
the  soil  as  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  Dutch  of 
Hudson  River,  the  Quakers  of  the  Delaware,  and  still  less 
the  Virginia  or  Carolina  planters  ;  they  cared  for  no  trade  but 
that  in  furs  and  peltries ;  they  were  indifferent  to  civil  and 
religious  freedom,  and  had  no  share  in  that  passion  for  politi- 
cal and  religious  progress  that  characterized  the  British  colo- 
nists ;  and,  so  far  from  desiring  a  State  without  a  king  and  a 
Church  without  a  bishop,  they  could  not  even  conceive  of  State 
and  Church  without  them.  They  never  developed  a  self-reli- 
ant colonial  character,  but  were  more  than  content  to  go  on  as 
they  began — the  children  of  patronage  and  power.  But  they 
desired  to  enlarge  the  borders  of  France  and  increase  her 
glory ;  they  loved  the  fur  trade  ;  and  they  longed  to  plant  the 
emblems  of  the  true  faith  beside  all  the  unknown  rivers  and 
hidden  lakes  of  the  wilderness.  Not  only  did  the  bolder 
minds  burn  to  penetrate  the  secrets  of  the  continent,  but  the 
majority,  now  hunters  or  farmers,  and  now  soldiers  or  voy- 


22  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ageurs,  loved  the  free  and  picturesque  life  of  the  forests  and 
waters  that  made  the  history  of  Canada  one  long  adventure. 
Dominion,  evangelization  of  the  Indians,  and  the  fur  trade 
were  the  three  ideas  on  which  the  colony  rested.  The  sol- 
dier, the  priest,  and  the  trader  are  the  three  types  of  charac- 
ter that  are  never  out  of  our  sight.  In  one  marked  feature  the 
French  plan  of  colonization  differed  from  that  of  the  English. 
The  English  found  no  place  whatever,  not  even  the  smallest, 
for  the  Indians  :  the  French  made  them  the  very  centre  and 
heart  of  their  whole  scheme.  Sympathetic,  social,  pliable  to 
new  conditions,  the  French  revealed  a  genius  for  getting  on 
with  the  savages  that  is  rather  confirmed  than  disproved  by 
their  sore  experience  with  the  Iroquois.  With  such  ideas  as 
these,  under  leaders  who  combined  adventure,  religious  zeal, 
and  far-reaching  policy,  they  gained  the  rear  and  northern 
flank  of  the  English  settlements,  and,  almost  before  the  lat- 
ter, absorbed  with  their  farms  and  shops,  fishing  and  trade, 
churches  and  politics,  were  aware  of  what  was  going  on,  well- 
nigh  confined  them  to  the  narrow  slope  between  the  moun- 
tains and  the  sea.  There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  Cham- 
plain  saw  the  final  end ;  but  he  marked  out  the  general  plan, 
and  was  himself  the  first  to  put  it  in  practice. 

In  1611  Champlain  made  the  rude  beginnings  of  the  city 
of  Montreal.  Here  he  and  the  French  traders  met  the  wild 
warriors  and  hunters  as  they  descended  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
the  Ottawa :  he  to  win  influence  over  the  Indians  and  to  gain 
knowledge  of  their  country,  they  to  buy  the  Indian  catch  of 
beaver-skins.  In  1613,  following  two  pioneers  whom  he  had 
sent  to  winter  with  the  Indians,  he  ascended  the  Ottawa,  and 
thus  began  the  first  survey  of  the  route  by  which  the  Cana- 
dian Pacific  Railway  passes  from  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  region  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  Trusting  the  false  tale  of 
one  of  the  two  pioneers,  he  expected  to  reach  a  great  northern 
sea  that  would  bear  him  on  to  the  regions  of  the  East,  which 
Columbus  had  sought  in  the  western  waters.  Disappointed 
in  this  endeavor,  he  still  reached  the  Isle  des  Allumettes,  the 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          23 

Indian  half-way  house  to  Lake  Huron,  before  returning  to 
Quebec.  In  this  vast  primeval  forest,  six  years  after  Smith 
landed  on  the  shore  of  the  James,  but  seven  years  before  the 
foot  of  Miles  Standish  touched  Plymouth  Rock,  Champlain 
won  the  respect  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  displayed  the  em- 
blems of  his  religion. 

i  *  In  the  month  of  May,  1615,  four  R6collet  friars,  a  branch 
of  the  great  Franciscan  order,  landed  at  Quebec.  They  came 
by  the  procurement  of  Champlain  to  carry  forward  the  work 
of  Indian  conversions.  Having  celebrated  the  first  mass  ever 
heard  in  Canada,  they  distributed  to  each  a  province  of  the 
wilderness  empire  of  Satan.  To  Le  Caron  the  Hurons  were 
assigned  ;  and  soon  the  priest  was  on  his  way  to  their  distant 
villages.  As  well  the  heroic  temper  of  the  man  as  his  relig- 
ious outlook  is  shown  by  a  single  sentence  from  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  a  friend  :  "  I  must  needs  tell  you  what  abundant  con- 
solation I  found  under  all  my  troubles ;  for  when  one  sees  so 
many  infidels  needing  nothing  but  a  drop  of  water  to  make 
them  children  of  God,  he  feels  an  inexpressible  ardor  to 
labor  for  their  conversion,  and  sacrifice  to  it  his  repose  and  his 
life."  *  Soon  the  soldier  followed  the  priest.  Ascending  the 
Ottawa  and  the  Mattawan,  crossing  the  portage  to  Lake 
Nipissing,  and  then  descending  French  River  and  Georgian 
Bay,  Champlain  found  his  way  to  the  "  Mer  Douce  "  of  the 
French  maps,  the  Lake  Huron  of  ours.  Striking  inland  from 
Thunder  Bay,  he  found  Le  Caron  already  established  in  the 
country  of  the  Hurons. 

The  savages  were  all  expectation  ;  for  the  white  chief  whose 
prowess  on  the  battle-field  they  had  already  learned,  had  prom- 
ised to  lead  them  against  the  Iroquois.  The  attack  upon  the 
Senecas  in  Central  New  York  proved  a  failure,  and  Cham- 
plain  returned  with  the  Hurons  to  their  villages,  where  he 
spent  the  winter.  In  the  spring  he  returned  to  his  colony, 
where  he  had  been  given  up  for  dead  ;  and  the  first  French 

1  Parkman  :  Pioneers  of  France,  363,  364, 


24  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

exploration  undertaken  with  a  settled  plan  was  at  an  end. 
Three  or  four  important  things  had  been  accomplished.  The 
two  early  routes  to  Lake  Huron  had  been  discovered — one  by 
the  Ottawa  and  Nipissing,  the  other  by  the  Trent  and  Lake 
Simcoe ;  "  Mer  Douce  "  and  Lake  Ontario,  the  first  two  of 
the  five  lakes  seen  by  white  men,  had  been  found ;  French  in- 
fluence over  the  mind  of  the  savages  had  been  felt  in  a  wider 
sphere;  and,  finally,  the  scene  of  the  future  Huron  Mission 
had  been  visited.  It  was  Champlain's  last  and  greatest 
achievement  as  an  explorer ;  it  was  the  first  step  toward  the 
French  possession  of  the  old  Northwest,  and  also  the  first  in 
that  long  march  which  more  than  a  hundred  years  later 
brought  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen  together  in  deadly  strife 
beyond  the  Great  Mountains. 

Were  we  sketching  the  broader  subject,  we  should  now 
turn  aside  to  watch  the  experiment  of  Indian  evangelization 
tried  by  the  Jesuits,  who  had  succeeded  the  Recollets,  among 
the  Hurons.  Mr.  Parkman  has  told  that  story  with  his  accus- 
tomed learning  and  eloquence.  Here  two  facts  will  suffice. 
Just  as  the  Jesuits  were  thanking  God  for  what  seemed  an  as- 
sured success — the  conversion  of  a  savage  nation  to  the  Cross 
— the  Iroquois  fell  upon  them,  and  scattered  the  Hurons  in  a 
storm  of  blood  and  fire.  Secondly,  the  destruction  of  this 
mission,  rather  the  truculent  fury  of  the  "  Romans  of  the 
West "  that  caused  it,  was  an  important  element  in  great  ques- 
tions. Mr.  Parkman  tells  us  that,  could  the  French  have 
brought  the  haughty  Iroquois  within  the  circle  of  their  full  in- 
fluence, American  history  would  still  have  reached  its  des- 
tined goal,  but  by  somewhat  different  paths.  Tamed  savages 
ruled  by  priests  would  have  been  scattered  through  the  val- 
leys of  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi ;  slaughter  would  have 
been  repressed  and  agriculture  developed  ;  the  Indian  popula- 
tion would  not  have  declined,  if  it  did  not  increase ;  and  the 
fur  trade  would  have  enriched  Canada.  France  would  have 
filled  "  the  West  with  traders,  settlers,  and  garrisons,  and  cut 
up  the  virgin  wilderness  into  fiefs,  while  as  yet  the  colonies  of 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          2$ 

England  were  but  a  weak  and  broken  line  along  the  shore  of 
the  Atlantic  ;  and  when  at  last  the  great  conflict  came,  Eng- 
land and  Liberty  would  have  been  confronted,  not  by  a  de- 
pleted antagonist,  still  feeble  from  the  exhaustion  of  a  starved 
and  persecuted  infancy,  but  by  an  athletic  champion  of  the 
principles  of  Richelieu  and  Loyola."  While  the  Iroquois 
blocked  the  Englishman's  way  to  the  West,  they  also  turned 
the  Frenchman  aside  from  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lower 
Lakes  to  the  Ottawa  and  Nipissing;  they  ruined  the  fur  trade 
"  which  was  the  life-blood  of  New  France ; "  they  "  made  all 
her  early  years  a  misery  and  a  terror ; "  they  retarded  the 
growth  of  Absolutism  until  Liberty  was  equal  to  the  final 
struggle ;  and  they  influence  our  national  history  to  this  day, 
since  "  populations  formed  in  the  ideas  and  habits  of  a  feudal 
monarchy,  and  controlled  by  a  hierarchy  profoundly  hostile 
to  freedom  of  thought,  would  have  remained  a  hindrance  and 
a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  that  majestic  experiment  of 
which  America  is  the  field."  1 

Etienne  Brule,  who  had  served  Champlain  as  an  inter- 
preter in  his  journey  to  the  "  Mer  Douce,"  was  the  first  to 
penetrate  the  region  beyond  that  body  of  water.  This  he 
did  before  1629,  bringing  back  with  him  an  ingot  of  copper 
and  a  description  of  a  lake  that  well  fits  Lake  Superior, 
its  size,  length,  and  the  rapids  by  which  it  discharges  its 
waters. 

In  1634  Jean  Nicollet,  a  hardy  explorer  and  trained  woods- 
man, passed  through  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  discovered  Lake 
Michigan,  and  made  his  way  to  Green  Bay.  He  remained 
in  this  region  a  year,  during  which  time  he  heard  much  of  a 
"  great  water "  to  the  west  that  he  took  to  be  the  sea,  but 
which  was  really  the  Mississippi  River.  He  appears  to  have 
been  on  the  Wisconsin,  for  he  says  if  he  had  paddled  three 
days  more  he  should  have  reached  the  sea. 

In  1641  Fathers  Jogues  and  Raymbault  preached  to  two 

1  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,  446-449. 


20  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

thousand  Indians,  Ojibwas  and  others,  at  the  Saut  Sainte 
Marie. 

In  1659-1660  Grosselliers  and  Radisson  reached  the  head 
of  the  great  Lake,  and  visited  Indians  dwelling  among  the 
streams  and  lakes  of  Western  Wisconsin  and  Eastern  Minne- 
sota. They  also  visited  the  country  beyond  Lake  Superior, 
and  were  the  first  to  give  the  world  information  of  those  for- 
midable tribes,  the  Sioux. 

In  1 66 1  Father  Menard  and  Jean  Guerin  penetrated  the 
Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan,  leaving  Lake  Superior  at 
Keweenaw  Bay.  Their  lines  of  travel  are  lost  in  history,  as 
their  footsteps  are  in  the  wilderness,  but  some  writers  sup- 
pose that  they  actually  found  the  Mississippi. 

The  French  had  now  discovered,  and  in  this  order,  four  of 
the  Great  Lakes :  Huron,  Ontario,  Superior,  and  Michigan. 
From  the  day  that  he  found  the  "  Mer  Douce,"  Champlain 
probably  conjectured  that  its  waters  mingled  with  those  of 
the  Ottawa  under  the  rock  of  Quebec  ;  but  years  elapsed  be- 
fore the  connection  was  thoroughly  established.  The  Father 
of  New  France  laid  down  a  connection  on  his  map  of  1632, 
representing  Lake  Erie  as  a  widened  river ;  but  on  some  maps 
of  later  date  the  Upper  and  Lower  Lakes  are  wholly  discon- 
nected. In  fact,  the  Susquehanna  was  once  thought  to  be 
an  outlet  of  Lake  Erie.  This  lake  was  the  very  last  to  be 
discovered,  as  well  as  the  very  last  to  be  thoroughly  explored. 
It  was  known  to  the  French  as  early  as  1640,  but  we  have  no 
certain  information  of  its  navigation,  nor  of  the  river  connect- 
ing it  with  Lake  Huron,  until  1669.  In  that  year  Louis 
Joliet,  who  ranks  as  an  explorer  next  to  Champlain  and  La 
Salle,  returning  from  Lake  Superior,  where  he  had  gone  in 
quest  of  copper,  made  the  passage  and  sailed  along  the  north- 
ern shore  to  the  eastward.  At  least,  in  September  of  that 
year  we  find  Joliet,  La  Salle,  and  two  Sulpitian  priests  in  the 
woods  of  Grand  River,  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  dis- 
cussing geography,  trade,  and  Indian  conversions.  Adopting 
Joilet's  advice,  the  Sulpitians  concluded  to  go  by  the  new 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          27 

route  to  the  far-distant  Pottawatomies.  In  1670  they  as- 
cended the  Strait,  stopping  on  the  site  of  Detroit,  and  made 
their  way  to  the  Saut  Sainte  Marie.  These  priests  were  Gal- 
ine'e  and  Dollier,  the  first  of  whom  made  the  earliest  map  of 
the  Upper  Lakes  now  known  to  exist. 

Thus,  from  1615  to  1670,  while  the  English  colonists  were 
treading  the  paths  of  their  hard  practical  life,  making  farms 
and  towns,  fighting  the  Indians,  and  contending  with  the 
home  government  for  rights  and  privileges,  the  French  were 
laying  open  the  northwestern  lands  and  waters,  but  making 
no  use  of  Lake  Erie  in  carrying  on  their  hardy  operations. 
The  reasons  of  this  are  essential  to  the  meaning  of  our 
story.  Le  Caron  and  Champlain  had  found  Lake  Huron  by 
ascending  the  Ottawa,  and  had  thus  set  the  direction  of 
northwestern  travel.  Later,  however,  the  route  by  Lake  Sim- 
coe  was  more  frequently  used  by  the  Jesuits  and  fur  traders. 
The  base  of  the  great  triangle  forming  Southwestern  Canada 
was  shorter  than  the  two  sides.  Moreover,  the  Ottawa  route 
was  not  much  harder  than  the  one  by  the  lake.  The  voyageur 
or  the  priest  made  his  way  along  either  route  in  a  birch-bark 
canoe,  and  carrying  over  the  portages,  or  around  the  rapids, 
while  more  laborious  than  paddling,  still  broke  the  monotony 
of  what  was  at  best  a  wearisome  life.  But  more  than  all  the 
rest,  the  northern  route  was  far  less  dangerous.  It  lay  through 
the  country  of  the  friendly  Algonquins  and  Hurons,  while 
the  hostile  Iroquois  wholly  barred  or  made  very  perilous  the 
portage  of  the  Niagara.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  great  river 
that  discharges  its  floods  into  the  St.  Lawrence  opposite  the 
island  of  Montreal,  northwestern  discovery  would  have  been 
retarded  for  half  a  century.  The  site  of  Detroit,  the  best  on 
the  Lakes  for  the  purposes  of  the  French,  owing  to  its  water- 
transportation,  its  relations  to  the  Indians,  and  its  neighbor- 
hood to  the  beaver-grounds,  was  not  known  until  1669,  and 
not  occupied  until  1701  ;  and  then  the  finder  and  the  founder 
came  from  Canada  by  the  Ottawa  and  Lake  Huron. 

The  same  facts  explain  another  curious  surprise  in  the 


28  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

early  history  of  this  region.  The  territory  comprised  within 
the  present  State  of  Ohio  was  the  last  portion  of  the  North- 
west to  be  explored  and  claimed  by  the  French.  French 
maps  that  lay  down  the  far  northern  waters  with  much 
correctness,  leave  us  almost  wholly  ignorant  of  the  size  and 
configuration  of  Lake  Erie.  Maps  that  correctly  figure  the 
rivers  of  Canada  and  of  Illinois  make  the  Ohio  and  the  Wabasli 
one  stream,  called  "  Wabash  or  Ohio,"  flowing  from  its  source 
almost  due  west,  and  thus  nearly  obliterating  the  State  of 
Ohio.  Sometimes  Lake  Erie  runs  south  far  toward  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  ;  and  later  its  course  is  due  east  and  west.  Charle- 
voix's  map  of  1 744  bears  on  the  southern  side  of  the  lake  the 
words,  "  this  shore  is  almost  unknown,"  and  Celeron's  map  of 
1750  repeats  the  legend.  Evans's  and  Mitchell's  maps,  both 
published  in  1755,  give  the  lake  an  almost  east  and  west 
trend.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  rivers  of  Ohio  made  their 
first  appearance  in  cartography.  The  similar  streams  of  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin  had  long  been  known  and  mapped.  "  The 
great  geographer,  D'Anville  of  France,  in  1755,  lays  down  the 
Beaver,  with  the  Mahoning  from  the  west,  rising  in  a  lake,  all 
very  incorrectly,  with  Lake  Erie  rising  to  the  northeast  like  a 
pair  of  stairs,  and  the  Ohio  nearly  parallel  to  it."1  Last  of 
all,  when  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  sent  its  surveyors 
to  Ohio,  in  1796,  it  found,  to  its  surprise  and  financial  loss, 
that  the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve  contained  a  million 
acres  less  land  than  had  been  supposed.  The  company  should 
have  charged  the  shortage  to  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 
the  Iroquois :  the  mountains  blocked  the  Englishman's  path 
to  the  West,  while  the  Iroquois,  who  exterminated  the  Eries 
about  1660,  and  whose  hunting  and  war  parties  long  roamed 
the  waste  that  they  had  made,  rendered  the  farthest  extreme 
of  the  Northwest  much  safer  ground  than  Ohio  for  the  voya- 
geurs,  traders,  and  missionaries  of  France.  Besides,  the  shorter 


1  Hon.  C.  C.  Baldwin,  from  whose  tracts,  published  by  the  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society,  these  facts  are  mainly  gathered. 


THE   FRENCH    DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.  29 

distance  by  the  northern  shore  drew  the  travel  to  that  side  of 
the  Lake. 

Wherever  they  went  the  French  took  prudent  thought  for 
the  morrow.  June  14,  1671,  Saint-Lusson,  who  had  been  sent 
from  Canada  for  that  very  purpose,  standing  amid  a  throng  of 
savages  and  a  cluster  of  Frenchmen,  by  a  white  cross  and  a 
cedar  post  bearing  the  royal  arms,  that  had  been  raised  at  the 
foot  of  the  Saut  Rapids,  holding  a  sword  in  one  hand  and  a  clod 
of  earth  in  the  other,  with  religious  and  civil  ceremonies,  took 
possession  of  the  Saut,  the  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  with 
all  the  countries,  rivers,  lakes,  and  islands  contiguous  and  ad- 
jacent thereto,  both  those  already  discovered  and  those  yet  to 
be  discovered,  bounded  on  the  one  side  by  the  seas  of  the 
north  and  west,  and  on  the  other  by  the  South  Sea,  in  the 
name  of  the  High,  Mighty,  and  Redoubtable  Monarch,  Louis 
XIV.,  the  Most  Christian  King  of  France  and  Navarre.  All 
that  "  now  remains  of  the  sovereignty  thus  pompously  pro- 
claimed," says  Mr.  Parkman,  is  "  now  and  then  the  accents  of 
France  on  the  lips  of  some  straggling  boatman  or  vagabond 
half-breed — this,  and  nothing  more."  l 

Meantime,  the  Jesuits,  not  cast  down  by  the  loss  of  the 
Huron  Mission,  were  busy  planting  missions  in  the  country 
beyond  "  Mer  Douce." 

The  two  most  important  of  these  missions,  standing  to  the 
wilderness  in  some  such  relation  as  that  of  the  early  Christian 
monasteries  of  Western  Europe  to  the  surrounding  heathen- 
ism, were  those  of  Saut  Sainte  Marie  and  Saint-Esprit,  the 
latter  near  the  head  of  Lake  Superior.  The  common  rally- 
ing-points  of  Indians  and  Frenchmen  alike,  these  missions  be- 
came centres  of  real  geographical  information  as  well  as  of 
idle  rumor  and  vague  conjecture.  Only  a  man  who  has 
brought  his  imagination  to  bear  on  the  facts  of  wilderness  life 
can  conceive  what  was  then  going  on.  At  any  given  time, 
some  French  discoverer  might  be  paddling  his  canoe  along 

1  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  42-44. 


30  THE    OLD    NORTHWEST. 

some  unknown  river,  or  toiling  through  some  unknown  forest, 
hundreds  of  miles"  from  the  nearest  settlement  or  mission ; 
and  report  of  what  he  saw  or  did  might  be  many  months  in 
rinding  its  way  to  his  countrymen.  The  yearly  reports  of  the 
Jesuit  missions,  called  "  Relations,"  now  that  the  Jesuits  have 
become  more  secular  and  less  spiritual,  abound  in  natural 
knowledge,1  which  shows  that  the  priests  were  grappling  with 
the  new  questions  that  thronged  upon  the  dullest  minds,  and 
which  the  brightest  could  not  answer.  Father  Marquette  had 
been  stationed  at  Saint-Esprit,  where  he  heard  much  of  the 
mysterious  river  to  find  which  had  become  the  ambition  of 
every  ambitious  Frenchman  in  New  France. 

La  Salle  came  out  to  Canada  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  in 
1666,  burning  with  the  great  passion  of  the  Age  of  Maritime 
Discovery — the  thought  of  finding  a  western  road  to  the 
riches  of  the  East.  Of  all  the  men  who  shed  lustre  upon 
French  discovery  in  New  France,  La  Salle  alone  ranks  beside 
Champlain.  A  band  of  Seneca  Indians  who  wintered  with 
him  at  his  seigniory  of  La  Chine,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  St. 
Louis,  in  one  of  the  lulls  of  savage  warfare,  told  him  of  a 
river  called  the  Ohio  that  rose  in  their  country  and,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  an  eight  moons'  journey,  emptied  into  the  sea.  Re- 
sponding to  that  prepossession  which  leads  men  of  ardent  tem- 
per to  interpret  facts  in  the  light  of  favorite  theories  and 
cherished  purposes,  he  concluded  that  this  river  must  flow  to 
the  Gulf  of  California.  He  had  started  with  the  Sulpitian 
priests  on  a  journey  to  the  Ohio,  resolved  to  put  this  theory 
to  the  test,  when  by  accident  he  met  Joliet  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Grand  River.  One  of  the  questions  that  the  little 
company  discussed  was  that  of  a  road  to  the  great  river 
of  which  the  French  were  now  hearing  so  much,  from  tribes 
as  distant  as  the  Senecas  and  the  Sioux.  Joliet,  who  had  be- 
come familiar  with  the  reports  that  floated  to  the  missions  of 
the  Upper  Lakes,  contended  that  the  road  should  be  sought  in 

1  Parkman  :  La  Salle,  29. 


THE   FRENCH    DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          31 

the  northwest ;  La  Salle,  who  was  fresh  from  his  conference 
with  the  Senecas,  contended  as  earnestly  for  the  southwest. 
Joliet  went  on  his  way  to  Montreal.  Galin6e  and  Dollier, 
turned  from  their  former  purpose  by  his  arguments,  ascended 
the  Strait  of  Detroit.  La  Salle,  with  his  few  followers,  was 
left  alone  in  the  wilderness — alone,  but  not  shaken  in  his  pur- 
pose. Owing  to  the  lack  of  original  documents,  and  to  the 
confusion  of  second-hand  reports,  the  next  two  or  three  years 
of  his  life  are  wrapped  in  much  obscurity,  and  are  the  subject 
of  much  vehement  debate ;  but  it  is  now  generally  held  that 
in  those  years  La  Salle  discovered  the  Ohio,  descending  it  to 
the  Falls  at  Louisville,  perhaps  even  to  the  Mississippi.  But 
this  conclusion,  while  no  doubt  sound,  is  reached  by  cautious 
criticism  of  fragmentary  documents.  La  Salle's  discovery  in 
no  sense  made  the  Ohio  known  to  the  world,  and  the  region 
between  the  lake  and  the  river  remained  to  be  explored  as 
late  as  the  year  1750.  There  is  some  evidence  going  to  show 
that  in  this  obscure  passage  of  his  life  La  Salle  descended  the 
Illinois  to  the  Mississippi.  But  History  has  adjudged  the 
honor  of  discovering  the  great  river  to  others,  and  she  is  not 
likely  to  change  her  verdict. 

Plainly,  the  time  had  come  for  the  Mississippi  to  be  dis- 
covered ;  and  in  1672  Frontenac,  the  French  governor,  com- 
missioned Joliet  to  make  the  discovery.  At  Mackinaw  the 
intrepid  explorer  met  the  intrepid  priest  whose  name  will  ever 
be  associated  with  his  own  in  Western  annals.  At  the  out- 
set Marquette  placed  the  enterprise  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Immaculate  Virgin,  promising  that  if  she  granted  them 
success  the  river  should  be  named  "  The  Conception."  This 
pledge  he  strove  to  keep  ;  but  an  Indian  word,  the  very  mean- 
ing of  which  has  been  disputed,  is  its  designation.  Ascend- 
ing the  Fox  River,  crossing  the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin,  one 
of  the  most  remote  from  Canada  of  the  many  portages  unit- 
ing the  two  systems  of  waters,  and  then  descending  the  Wis- 
consin, on  June  17,  1673,  they  found  themselves,  probably 
first  of  white  men  since  De  Soto's  companions  fled  from  the 


32  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

midnight  burial  of  their  chief,  on  the  bosom  of  the  Father  of 
Waters.  We  shall  not  follow  them  as  they  descend  the 
mighty  flood  to  a  point  below  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas. 
Having  satisfied  themselves  that  the  river  did  not  flow  to  the 
sea  of  Virginia  or  to  the  Gulf  of  California,  but  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  they  turned  back  toward  the  north,  and,  by  way  of 
the  Illinois  River,  the  Chicago  portage,  and  Lake  Michigan, 
returned  to  Green  Bay,  having  paddled  their  canoes,  in  four 
months,  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles.  Joliet  lived  many 
years  to  encounter  new  perils,  among  them  a  journey  by  the 
Saguenay  to  Hudson  Bay;  but  Marquette,  worn  out  by  labors 
and  vigils,  soon  after  died  on  the  lonely  eastern  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan. 

La  Salle's  ambition  became  more  ardent  the  longer  it  was 
fed  by  his  glowing  imagination.  But  the  triumph  of  Joliet 
and  Marquette  changed  the  current  of  his  thoughts.  Asia 
was  no  longer  the  vision  that  he  saw  in  the  west,  but  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  Spain  had  discovered  the  Mississippi,  but 
had  failed  to  take  possession  :  he  would  fortify  its  mouth  and 
hold  the  river  against  the  world.  England  had  planted  her 
colonies  on  the  Atlantic  shore,  claiming  the  whole  continent 
behind  them :  he  would  gain  their  rear  and  shut  the  gate- 
ways of  the  West  against  them  forever.  In  a  word,  he  would 
change  the  seat  of  the  French-American  empire  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi.  It  was  La  Salle  who  first  dis- 
tinctly conceived  the  policy  that  led  on  to  Fort  Duquesne, 
Braddock's  defeat,  and  Forbes's  march  to  the  Forks  of  the 
Ohio. 

Early  in  the  year  1679,  he  built,  near  the  foot  of  Lake  Erie, 
the  Griffin,  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons  burden,  to  be  used  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  plans.  Money  was  needed,  and  he  must  sup- 
ply it  by  trading  in  furs.  August  /th  the  Griffin  spread  her 
sails  for  the  northern  waters.  She  was  the  first  craft  other 
than  an  Indian  canoe  or  a  boat  propelled  by  oars  that  ever 
sailed  our  inland  seas  above  Lake  Ontario.  On  the  I2th  of 
that  month  she  had  reached  the  expansion  of  the  Strait  that 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          33 

lies  just  above  the  city  of  Detroit.  Unlike  the  Protestant  ex- 
plorers, the  Catholic  drew  largely  upon  the  Saints'  calendar 
for  geographical  names  ;  and  the  school-boy  of  to-day,  as  he 
pores  over  the  map  of  North  America,  finds  in  the  names  of 
rivers,  lakes,  and  capes  valuable  hints  of  early  exploration. 
Of  this  we  have  an  excellent  example  in  the  naming  of  Lake 
Sainte-Claire. 


"  The  saint  whose  name  was  really  bestowed,  and  whose  day 
is  August  i2th,  is  the  female  '  Sainte  Claire,"  the  foundress  of 
the  order  of  Franciscan  nuns  of  the  thirteenth  century,  known 
as  '  Poor  Claires.'  Clara  d'Assisi  was  the  beautiful  daughter 
of  a  nobleman  of  great  wealth,  who  early  dedicated  herself  to  a 
religious  life  and  went  to  St.  Francis  to  ask  for  advice.  On 
Palm  Sunday  she  went  to  church  with  her  family,  dressed  in 
rich  attire,  where  St.  Francis  cut  off  her  long  hair  with  his  own 
hands  and  threw  over  her  the  coarse  penitential  robes  of  the 
order.  She  entered  the  convent  of  San  Damiano  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  her  family  and  friends.  It  is  related  of  her  that 
on  one  occasion,  when  the  Saracens  came  to  ravage  the  con- 
vent, she  arose  from  her  bed,  where  she  had  been  long  con- 
fined, and  placing  the  pyx,  which  contained  the  host,  upon  the 
threshold,  she  knelt  down  and  began  to  sing,  whereupon  the 
infidels  threw  down  their  arms  and  fled.  Sancta  Clara  is  a 
favorite  saint  all  over  Europe,  and  her  fame  in  the  New  World 
ought  not  to  be  spoiled — like  the  record  of  the  dead  in  a  battle 
gazette — by  a  misspelt  name. 

"  F.  Way,  in  his  work  on  Rome,  published  in  1875,  says  : 
'  Sancta  Clara  has  her  tomb  at  the  Minerva,  and  she  dwelt  be- 
tween the  Pantheon  and  the  Thermae  of  Agrippa.  The  tene- 
ment she  occupied  at  the  time  of  her  decease  still  exists,  but  is 
not  well  known.  In  a  little  triangular  place  on  or  near  Via 
Tor.  Argentina  lodged  the  first  convent  of  the  Clarisses.  If, 
crossing  the  gate-way,  you  turn  to  the  left  of  the  court,  you  will 
face  two  windows  of  a  slightly  raised  ground-floor.  It  was 
there  Innocent  IV.  visited  her,  and  there,  on  August  12,  1253, 
listening  to  the  reading  of  the  Passion,  in  the  midst  of  her  weep- 
3 


34  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ing  nuns,  died  the  first  abbess  of  the  Clarisses  and  the  founder 
of  4,000  religious  houses.'"  ' 

The  lake  named,  the  Griffin  went  on  her  way.  From 
Green  Bay,  La  Salle  sent  her  on  the  return  voyage  loaded 
with  furs.  She  was  never  heard  of  again,  to  La  Salle's  most 
bitter  disappointment.  What  was  her  fate  will  always  be  a 
matter  of  conjecture. 

Who  were  the  first  white  men  to  penetrate  the  territory  of 
Illinois,  probably  can  never  be  told  with  certainty.  It  is 
clear  that  the  Illinois  River  had  been  visited  by  white  men 
before  Joliet  and  Marquette  ascended  it  on  their  way  north- 
ward in  1673.  At  least,  there  is  a  map  in  existence  of  earlier 
date  on  which  the  upper  parts  of  the  river  are  laid  down.8 
Perhaps  the  readiest  answer  to  the  question  that  this  map  sug- 
gests is,  that  La  Salle  actually  discovered  the  Illinois  in  1672. 
Marquette  returned  to  the  Indian  town  of  Kaskaskia  after  his 
first  visit,  to  establish  the  mission  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, but  his  stay  was  of  short  duration.  La  Salle's  eye  was 
on  the  Illinois  when  he  ascended  the  Lakes  in  1679.  Part  of 
the  Griffin's  cargo  was  rigging  and  anchors  for  a  vessel  to  be 
built  on  that  river,  with  which  he  expected  to  sail  down  the 
Mississippi  and  make  the  West  Indies.  When  he  parted  with 
his  vessel  at  Green  Bay,  he  ascended  the  western  shore  of 
Lower  Michigan,  and  built  Fort  Miamis  at  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Joseph  River.  Ascending  this  river  to  the  Kankakee  port- 
age, in  December,  he  crossed  to  that  stream,  and  launched 
his  eight  canoes,  containing  thirty-three  men,  himself,  Tonty, 
and  Hennepin  included,  on  its  current.  Passing  places  soon 
to  become  memorable  in  western  annals,  as  "  Starved  Rock  " 
and  Peoria  Lake,  he  finally  stopped  at  a  point  just  below  the 
lake  and  began  a  fortification.  He  gave  to  this  fort  a  name 
that,  better  than  anything  else,  marks  the  desperate  condition 
of  his  affairs.  Hitherto  he  had  refused  to  believe  that  the 

1  Hubbard  :  Memorials  of  a  Half  Century,  164-166. 
a  Parkman  :  La  Salle,  23. 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          35 

Griffin  was  lost — the  vessel  that  he  had  strained  his  re- 
sources to  build,  and  freighted  with  his  fortunes ;  somewhere 
on  the  Lakes  she  must  be  afloat,  perhaps  driven  by  the  storm 
into  some  sheltering  bay,  perhaps  aground  on  some  hidden 
bar.  But  as  hope  of  her  safety  grew  faint,  he  named  his  fort 
Crtvecceur — "  Broken  Heart."  Neither  his  ardent  temper  nor 
the  state  of  his  affairs  would  permit  him  to  stand  still.  Hav- 
ing put  a  vessel  on  the  stocks,  and  despatched  Hennepin  to 
the  Upper  Mississippi,  he  left  Tonty  in  command  of  the  post, 
and  started  on  a  winter  journey  to  Canada  to  procure  material 
for  her  construction.  Here  fresh  disappointments  met  him, 
and  he  returned  to  his  Illinois  fort  to  find  that  he  had  named 
it  even  better  than  he  knew  :  the  fort  had  been  plundered  and 
was  deserted. 

In  the  autumn  of  1681,  La  Salle  once  more  travelled  the 
long  road  leading  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  head  of  the 
"  Lake  of  the  Illinois,"  as  he  called  Lake  Michigan.  The 
winter  following,  he  dragged  his  canoes  on  sledges  to  the  Illi- 
nois River,  and  then  launched  them  on  its  stream.  On  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1682,  he  found  himself  on  the  river  that  he  had  so 
long  sought,  and  which  fate  seemed  to  have  decreed  that  he 
should  never  reach.  April  Qth  following,  he  and  his  little 
party  stood  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  beside  a 
column  bearing  the  arms  of  France,  with  an  appropriate  in- 
scription, and  a  cross,  with  a  leaden  plate,  also  appropriately 
inscribed,  buried  near.  Some  hymns  having  been  chanted, 
amid  volleys  of  musketry  and  shouts  of  "  Long  live  the  King  " 
La  Salle  took  formal  possession,  for  his  royal  master  King 
Louis  XIV.  of  France  and  Navarre,  of  the  country  of  Louisi- 
ana, from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  along  the  Mississippi  and 
the  rivers  which  flow  into  it  from  its  source  beyond  the  coun- 
try of  the  Sioux  to  its  mouth  at  the  sea,  and  also  to  the 
mouth  of  the  River  of  Palms.  Another  hymn  was  chanted, 
and  renewed  shouts  of  "  Live  the  King  !  "  completed  the  trans- 
action. 

This  act  was  far  more  significant  than  the  similar  one  per- 


36  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

formed  by  Saint-Lusson  at  the  Saut,  eleven  years  before.  It 
closed  the  Mississippi  to  the  Spaniards  for  one  hundred  years ; 
it  led  to  a  French  colony  in  Louisiana ;  it  made  necessary 
that  chain  of  wilderness  posts  which  Braddock  sought  to 
pierce  at  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio  in  1755.  That  the  Missis-' 
sippi  Valley  was  laid  open  to  the  eyes  of  the  world  by  a  voy- 
ageur  who  came  overland  from  Canada,  and  not  by  a  voyageur 
who  ploughed  through  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
from  Spain,  is  a  fact  of  far-reaching  import.  The  first  Louisiana 
was  the  whole  valley  ;  this  and  the  Lake-St.  Lawrence  Basin 
made  up  the  second  New  France.  How  the  two  blended  and 
supplemented  each  other  geographically,  as  well  as  their  first 
historical  relations,  have  been  indicated.  Before  we  lose  sight 
of  the  act  that  La  Salle  performed  that  April  day  we  should 
mark  the  date  that  fixes  its  relation  to  the  English  colonies 
— 1682,  the  year  that  Penn  laid  out  the  squares  of  Philadel- 
phia, but  thirty-four  years  before  Spotswood  and  his  retinue 
drank  their  wine  on  the  banks  of  the  Shenandoah. 

Our  present  theme  is  the  discovery  of  the  Northwest. 
Other  matters  have  been  introduced  only  as  they  lead  up  to 
that  grand  result.  But  French  ambition  was  not  absorbed 
by  the  Mississippi  problem.  Frenchmen  pushed  into  the 
great  forests  and  plains  beyond  the  sources  of  that  river.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  they  knew  the  "  thousand  lakes  "  of 
Minnesota  better  than  Americans  knew  them  fifty  years  ago. 
Du  Lhut,  for  whom  the  terminus  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  is  named,  before  the  year  1700  explored  much  of 
the  region  through  which  that  railroad  runs.  Nor  have  we 
attempted  more  than  an  outline  map  of  the  earliest  history  of 
the  old  Northwest.  Having  done  so  much — having  indi- 
cated how  the  French,  long  before  the  English  reached  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Alleghanies,  had  crossed  and  threaded  the 
great  western  valley,  we  are  ready  to  attempt  a  similar  map  of 
early  Northwestern  colonization. 

But  before  essaying  that  task,  a  word  concerning  the  en« 


THE   FRENCH   DISCOVER   THE   NORTHWEST.          37 

chanting  tale  of  French  discovery  in  North  America.  As  we 
read  that  tale,  we  seem,  for  the  time,  to  be  looking  out  of  the 
wondering  eyes  with  which  the  French  first  surveyed  this  new 
northern  and  western  world — the  eyes  of  Cartier  as  he  sailed 
up  the  St.  Lawrence ;  of  Champlain  as  he  paddled  his  bark 
canoe  up  the  current  of  the  Richelieu  or  shouldered  it  around 
the  rapids  of  the  Ottawa;  of  Nicolletas  he  steered  through  the 
Straits  of  Mackinaw  into  the  expanse  of  Lake  Michigan ;  of 
Joliet  as  he  rowed  beneath  the  cliffs  of  the  Saguenay — the 
eyes  of  Brul6  at  the  Saut,  of  Hennepin  at  Niagara,  of  Mar- 
quette  on  the  River  of  Conception,  of  Du  Lhut  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Dakotas — the  eyes  of  La  Salle  as  he  descended  the 
Ohio,  followed  the  Indian  trails  of  Illinois  and  Arkansas,  or 
pronounced  that  sounding  formula  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi— we  seem  to  look  out  of  their  eyes  upon  this  virgin 
world  of  forest  and  stream,  of  prairie  and  lake,  of  buffalo  and 
elk,  of  natural  beauty  and  human  ugliness.  But,  after  all, 
our  impressions  are  faint  compared  with  theirs.  Ideal  pres- 
ence is  not  real  presence.  Even  if  we  could  follow  them  on 
their  old  paths,  we  could  not  undo  the  great  changes  that  civ- 
ilized man  has  wrought.  Nor  can  we  recall  the  innocency  of 
their  eyes  any  more  than  we  can  renew  the  devotion  of  their 
hearts  to  King  and  Church.  All  that  is  possible  for  us  is  a 
pale  picture  of  as  grand  a  panorama  of  natural  beauty  and 
sublimity  as  was  ever  unrolled  to  the  vision  of  explorers.  To 
men  like  Champlain,  Marquette,  and  La  Salle,  exploring  New 
France  was  a  poem  whose  splendor  almost  made  them  forget 
the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  exploration. 


IV. 
THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE  THE  NORTHWEST. 

THE  English  colonies  in  America  began  with  villages  and 
outlying  farms ;  the  French  colonies,  with  missionary  stations, 
fortified  posts,  or  trading  houses,  or  with  the  three  combined. 
The  triple  alliance  of  priest,  soldier,  and  trader  continued 
through  the  period  of  colonization.  Often,  but  not  always, 
settlements  grew  up  around  these  missions  or  posts  ;  and  these 
settlements  constituted  the  colonies  of  New  France. 

Immediately  following  the  visit  of  Le  Caron  and  Cham- 
plain  to  the  "  Mer  Douce,"  in  1615,  the  Recollet  Fathers  es- 
tablished missions  on  its  eastern  side,  which,  however,  soon 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  These  missions  were 
stepping-stones  to  the  regions  beyond.  The  reader  who  has 
followed  the  narrative  thus  far  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  the  French  beginnings  in  the  Northwest  were  within  the 
Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan.  Some  of  these  beginnings 
long  ago  disappeared,  others  became  permanent  settlements. 
Saint-Esprit,  at  La  Pointe,  planted  by  Allouez  in  1665,  is  one 
example  of  the  first ;  Saut  Ste.  Marie,  planted  by  Marquette 
in  1668,  of  the  second.  This  village  is  the  oldest  town  in  the 
Northwest — fourteen  years  older  than  Philadelphia,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  older  than  Marietta,  O.  A  mis- 
sion was  planted  on  the  island  of  Michilimackinac  within  a 
year  of  that  at  the  Saut.  This  establishment  was  soon  re- 
moved to  Pointe  St.  Ignace,  on  the  mainland,  to  the  north 
and  west,  and  afterward  to  the  northern  point  of  the  South- 
ern Peninsula.  But  we  are  not  able  to  trace  a  continuous 


FRENCH 
EXPLORATIONS  AND  POSTS. 

Marquette  &  Joliet's  Route,  in  1673  »•• 
LaSalle's  Route  to  Ft.  Crevecceur 

and  return,  1679 ••• 

La  Salle's  Route  from  Ft.  St. Louis 

to  the  Gulf,  1682 •»• 

Hennepin's  Route,  1680 


Jjongitgde  "West       85     from  Greenwich 


THE  FRENCH    COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  39 

history  from  the  mission  to  the  Mackinaw  of  the  fisherman 
and  tourist  of  to-day. 

The  beginnings  made  in  Lower  Michigan  bear  such  im- 
portant relations  to  facts  of  larger  moment  that  time  must  be 
taken  to  point  them  out. 

In  previous  chapters  I  have  spoken  of  the  English  colo- 
nists as  contented  with  their  prosaic  life,  and  as  not  seeking  to 
enter  the  regions  beyond  the  Mountains  and  the  Lakes.  This 
requires  some  qualification.  Within  the  State  of  New  York 
are  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  Rivers.  The  Dutch,  hav- 
ing a  passion  for  beaver  equal  to  that  of  the  French  them- 
selves, early  occupied  the  confluence  of  the  two  streams,  and 
then  began  throwing  out  advanced  settlements  along  the  line 
of  the  smaller  one.  The  English  conquest  of  the  Dutch 
colony  did  not  at  once  change  its  character.  Furs  long  con- 
tinued the  leading  staple  of  its  commerce.  The  two  rivers  pre- 
sented the  readiest  means  of  reaching  the  west  found  south  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  From  the  very  first,  the  people  of  New 
York  cultivated  good  feeling  and  commercial  relations  with 
their  neighbors  of  the  "  Long  House ; "  and  these,  whether  in 
peace  or  war,  were  able  to  influence  all  the  tribes  to  the  very 
sources  of  the  Mississippi.  After  they  had  crushed  the 
Hurons,  these  intractable  warriors  claimed  Southwestern 
Canada  as  their  own ;  and  after  their  western  conquests  they 
set  up  a  claim  to  all  the  lands  to  the  Mississippi,  south  of  the 
southern  boundary  of  Michigan.  No  nation  was  ever  more 
jealous  than  the  Six  Nations ;  but  the  skilful  diplomatists  of 
New  York  succeeded  in  winning  from  them  many  valuable 
concessions,  some  of  which  they  did  and  some  of  which  they 
did  not  understand.  These  will  be  more  fully  noticed  in  an- 
other place  ;  but  here  it  is  important  to  remark  that  after  the 
colony  had  passed  into  English  hands,  they  sometimes  per- 
mitted the  New  York  traders  to  pass  through  their  country 
to  the  Lakes.  Once  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  the  traders 
were  but  a  few  days'  paddling  from  the  best  beaver-grounds  in 
the  whole  Northwest — those  of  the  lower  Michigan  Peninsula. 


40  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  The  region  between  Lake  Erie  and  Saginaw  was  one  of 
the  great  beaver-trapping  grounds.  The  Huron,  the  Chippe- 
was,  the  Ottawas,  and  even  the  Iroquois,  from  beyond  Ontario, 
by  turns  sought  this  region  in  large  parties  for  the  capture  of 
this  game,  from  the  earliest  historic  times.  It  is  a  region  pe- 
culiarly adapted  to  the  wants  of  this  animal.  To  a  great  ex- 
tent level,  it  is  intersected  by  numerous  water-courses,  which 
have  but  moderate  flow.  At  the  head-waters  and  small  inlets 
of  these  streams  the  beaver  established  his  colonies.  Here 
he  dammed  the  streams,  setting  back  the  water  over  the  flat 
lands,  and  creating  ponds,  in  which  were  his  habitations.  Not 
one  or  two,  but  a  series  of  such  dams,  were  constructed  along 
each  stream,  so  that  very  extensive  surfaces  became  thus  covered 
permanently  with  the  flood.  The  trees  were  killed,  and  the 
land  was  converted  into  a  chain  of  ponds  and  marshes,  with  in- 
tervening dry  ridges.  In  time,  by  nature's  recuperative  process 
— the  annual  growth  and  decay  of  grasses  and  aquatic  plants — 
these  filled  with  muck  or  peat,  with  occasional  deposits  of  bog- 
lime,  and  the  ponds  and  swales  became  dry  again. 

"  Illustrations  of  this  beaver-made  country  are  numerous 
enough  in  our  immediate  vicinity.  In  a  semicircle  of  twelve 
miles  around  Detroit,  having  the  river  for  base,  and  embracing 
about  one  hundred  thousand  acres,  fully  one-fifth  part  consists 
of  marshy  tracts  or  prairies,  which  had  their  origin  in  the  work 
of  the  beaver.  A  little  farther  west,  nearly  one  whole  township, 
in  Wayne  County,  is  of  this  character."1 

Such  temptation  as  this  the  Dutch  and  English  traders 
could  not  be  expected  to  resist.  When  Denonville  came  to 
Canada  as  governor,  in  1685,  he  found  New  France  beset  on 
either  side.  The  English  of  Hudson  Bay  were  seeking  to 
draw  the  trade  of  the  Northwestern  tribes  to  those  northern 
waters  ;  the  English  of  New  York  were  seeking  to  draw  it  to 
Hudson  River.  The  competition  threatened  to  become  too 
keen ;  for  the  Englishman  offered  cheaper  goods,  and  the  Ind- 
ians liked  his  rum  as  well  as  they  did  the  Frenchman's  brandy. 

1  Hubbard  :  Memorials  of  a  Half  Century,  362-363. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  41 

But  more  than  this,  Governor  Dongan  of  New  York  had 
divined  the  ideas  of  La  Salle,  and  had  begun  to  counterwork 
them.  He  proposed  that  the  English  should  enter  the  west, 
exclude  the  French,  and  limit  them  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  It 
was  a  war  of  ideas.  It  was  at  this  time  that  New  York  ob- 
tained from  the  Iroquois  the  first  of  those  concessions  that 
afterward  played  so  important  a  part  in  English  policy,  and 
became  the  basis  of  the  New  York  claim  to  the  western  coun- 
try. The  two  mother  countries  were  at  peace ;  but  Denon- 
ville  and  Dongan  conducted  a  long  correspondence  growing 
out  of  the  rival  claims,  often  angiy,  sometimes  bitter.  The 
French  governor  sometimes  despaired  of  his  cause,  although 
he  triumphed  in  the  end.  The  Iroquois  were  never  friendly  to 
the  French,  and  often  hostile ;  and  they  now  strove  to  alien- 
ate the  Northwestern  tribes  from  them.  But  Denonville  had 
some  great  advantages  over  his  rival.  He  was  absolute  in 
Canada,  and  was  thoroughly  supported  by  his  king,  while 
Dongan  was  wholly  unsupported.  The  English  king  was  a 
creature  of  Louis  XIV. 's,  and  the  colonies  other  than  New 
York,  although  Dongan  was  upholding  their  common  cause, 
were  wholly  indifferent  to  the  issue.  But  he  might  have  won 
but  for  one  force  that  he  was  powerless  to  overcome  :  he  had 
i  no  weapon  that  he  could  oppose  to  the  French  coureurs  des 
bois.  These  redoubtable  bush-rangers,  always  proud  of  their 
French  blood  and  language,  and  always  impatient  of  French 
authority ;  devoted  to  the  King,  but  caring  nothing  for  his 
law  ;  leading  a  life  picturesque  and  reckless  ;  with  the  bravery 
and  generosity  of  the  traditional  outlaw  ;  familiar  with  every 
stream  and  at  home  in  every  forest ;  delighting  in  illicit  trade ; 
often  under  the  ban  of  the  governor ;  ready  to  confess  them- 
selves or  quick  to  shed  blood ;  rapidly  succumbing  to  the 
hardships  and  dangers  of  their  irregular  life,  but  still  more 
rapidly  recruited  from  the  settlements — the  coureurs  des  bois 
now  rendered  to  New  France  one  of  their  greatest  services. 
They  had  become  so  numerous  that  every  family  in  Canada 
was  said  to  have  a  member  in  the  bush.  They  had  great  in- 


42  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

fluence  with  the  Indians  ;  they  hated  the  English  ;  and  they 
were  often  envied  by  their  countrymen  who  followed  more 
xprderly  lives.  They  had  their  own  leaders,  some  of  whom 
could  bring  together  five  or  six  hundred  men.  Du  Lhut  was 
the  most  celebrated  of  these,  and  in  this  first  crisis  of  North- 
western history  he  played  a  conspicuous  part.  He  built  a 
fort  on  the  northern  side  of  Lake  Superior,  to  control  the 
road  from  the  Upper  Lakes  to  Hudson  Bay.  He  also  pointed 
out  to  Denonville  the  importance  of  closing  the  gate-way  of 
Detroit.  The  governor  gave  him  a  commission  to  close  it, 
which  Du  Lhut  hastened  to  execute.  In  1686  he  built  Fort 
St.  Joseph,  at  the  head  of  the  Strait,  near  where  Fort  Gratiot 
afterward  stood.  St.  Joseph  was  abandoned  and  destroyed 
soon  after,  but  not  until  a  fort  had  been  built  on  the  site  of 
Detroit.  This  action  had  not  been  taken  a  moment  too  soon, 
for  immediately  we  hear  of  men  from  New  York  on  their  way 
to  Mackinaw.  }  In  1686  and  1687  strong  parties  of  English 
and  Dutch  traders,  escorted  by  Iroquois  warriors,  made  this 
attempt ;  the  first  of  these  had  actually  passed  St.  Joseph  be- 
fore it  was  discovered  and  captured,  the  second  was  stopped 
on  Lake  Erie.  Nor  did  the  English  then  give  over  the  at- 
tempt to  penetrate  the  upper  country ;  we  hear  afterward  of 
New  York  traders  at  various  places,  and  notably  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Fort  Miamis,  on  the  St.  Joseph,  in  1694.  But 
building  and  garrisoning  forts  were  only  a  part  of  the  ser- 
vices rendered  in  this  trying  time  by  the  coureurs  des  bois. 
They  placated  the  Indians,  and  patrolled  the  forests  and  lakes 
for  stray  Englishmen.  So  competent  an  authority  as  Judge 
Campbell  expresses  the  opinion  that  but  for  them  the  Michi- 
gan region  would  have  fallen  into  English  hands  before  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century.1  But  before  the  Strait  of 
Detroit  was  occupied  by  the  French,  plantings  had  already 
been  made  farther  to  the  west. 

From  the  time  of  La  Salle's  visit  in  1679,  we  can  trace  a 

1  Political  History  of  Michigan,  40. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE  THE   NORTHWEST.  43 

continuous  French  occupation  of  Illinois.  After  La  Salle  had 
navigated  the  great  river  to  the  Gulf,  he  had  a  double-headed 
scheme.  A  First,  he  would  plant  a  colony  on  the  Illinois  to 
hold  the  country  against  the  Six  Nations,  who  extended  their 
forays  to  the  Mississippi,  to  protect  the  western  Indians,  and 
to  gather  furs.  A  second  colony,  planted  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  would  command  Lower  Louisiana  and  receive 
and  ship  to  France  the  furs  gathered  on  the  upper  waters. 
He  would  bind  together  the  two  colonies  by  a  chain  of  forti- 
fied posts,  which  should  also  be  continued  through  the  Lake 
country  to  the  settlements  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  now 
changed  the  scene  of  his  northern  operations.  He  planted 
his  citadel  of  St.  Louis  on  the  summit  of  "  Starved  Rock," 
proposing  to  make  that  the  centre  of  his  colony..  This  un- 
dertaking well  under  way,  he  started  for  France  to  carry  out 
the  second  part  of  his  programme.  Further  we  shall  not  fol- 
low this  indomitable  explorer,  except  to  say  that  in  1687, 
while  seeking,  by  an  overland  journey  to  Canada,  to  save  from 
destruction  his  southern  colony,  that,  either  by  mistake  or 
treachery,  had  been  landed  in  Texas  rather  than  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi,  he  was  slain  by  an  assassin  of  his  own  party, 
just  one  hundred  years  before  Anglo-American  institutions 
were  established  in  the  territory  that  he  had  called  his  own. 
La  Salle  was  the  father  of  Illinois.  At  first  his  colony  was 
exceedingly  feeble,  but  it  was  never  discontinued.  "  Joutel 
found  a  garrison  at  Fort  St.  Louis  ...  in  1687,  and  in 
1689  La  Hontan  bears  testimony  that  it  still  continued.  In 
1696  a  public  document  proves  its  existence  ;  and  when  Tonty, 
in  170x3,  again  descended  the  Mississippi,  he  was  attended  by 
twenty  Canadians,  residents  on  the  Illinois." 1  Even  while 
the  wars  named  after  King  William  and  Queen  Anne  were 
going  on,  the  French  settlements  were  growing  in  numbers 
and  increasing  in  size  ;  those  wars  over,  they  made  still  more 
rapid  progress.  Missions  grew  into  settlements  and  parishes. 

1  Monette  :  History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  i.,  153,  154. 


44  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Old  Kaskaskia  was  begun  in  what  La  Salle  called  the  "  ter- 
restrial paradise  "  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  Wabash  Valley  was  occupied  about  1700,  the  first  set- 
tlers entering  it  by  the  portage  leading  from  the  Kankakee. 
Later  the  voyageurs  found  a  shorter  route  to  the  fertile  val- 
ley. Ascending  the  Maumee,  then  called  "  The  Miami  of  the 
Lake,"  whose  heads  are  interlaced  with  those  of  the  Wabash, 
and  crossing  the  short  portage  leading  to  that  stream,  they 
could  descend  to  the  Ohio.  As  the  Frenchmen  found  their 
way  to  the  confluence  of  the  two  streams  by  the  Wabash,  and 
as  they  knew  little  of  the  Ohio,  then  called  "  the  River  of  the 
Iroquois,"  they  took  the  Wabash  for  the  main  stream. 
Post  Vincents,  the  Vincennes  of  our  maps,  was  planted  in 
1735,  and  became  the  principal  of  a  long  but  thin  line  of  set- 
tlements. 

The  nearest  road  from  Canada  to  the  Mississippi  ties 
through  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  most  remote  through  the  State 
of  Wisconsin  ;  the  Ohio  portages  were  the  last  to  be  travelled 
by  the  French,  that  of  the  Fox  and  the  Wisconsin  was  the 
first.  The  Iroquois  long  excluded  the  French  from  Ohio,  and 
the  remoteness  of  Wisconsin,  aided  perhaps  by  the  rigor  of  the 
climate,  tended  to  a  similar  result.  Still,  the  Jesuits  planted 
several  missions  in  the  latter  State.  That  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  planted  by  Claude  Allouez,  the  founder  of  Saint-Es- 
prit,  at  Green  Bay,  in  1669,  was  the  most  important,  and  be- 
came, in  course  of  time,  the  nucleus  of  a  small  French  settle- 
ment. Mention  may  also  be  made  of  Prairie  du  Chien  and 
of  the  post  on  Lake  Pepin. 

The  French  located  their  principal  missions  and  posts  with 
admirable  judgment.  There  is  not  one  of  them  in  which  we 
cannot  see  the  wisdom  of  the  priest,  of  the  soldier,  and  the 
trader  combined.  The  triple  alliance  worked  for  an  imme- 
diate end,  but  the  sites  that  they  chose  are  as  important  to- 
day as  they  were  when  they  chose  them.  The  fact  is,  nature 
had  decided  all  these  questions  ages  before  the  soil  of  the  New 
World  had  been  pressed  by  the  white  man's  foot.  Marquette 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  45 

called  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw  "  the  key,  and,  as  it  were, 
the  gate  for  all  the  tribes  from  the  South  as  the  Saut  is  for 
those  of  the  North,  there  being  in  this  section  of  the  country 
only  these  two  passages  by  water,  for  a  great  number  of  na- 
tions have  to  go  by  one  or  other  of  these  channels  in  order 
to  reach  the  French  settlements.  This  presents  a  peculiarly 
favorable  opportunity  both  for  instructing  those  who  pass  here 
and  also  for  obtaining  easy  access  and  conveyance  to  their 
places  of  abode."  The  straits  were  called  the  "  home  of  the 
fishes."  "  Elsewhere,  although  they  exist  in  large  numbers," 
says  Marquette,  "  it  is  not  properly  their  home,  which  is  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Michilimackinac.  It  is  this  attraction 
which  has  heretofore  drawn  to  a  point  so  advantageous  the 
greater  part  of  the  savages  in  this  country,  driven  away  by 
fear  of  the  Iroquois." '  .  La  Salle's  colony  of  St.  Louis  was 
planted  in  one  of  the  gardens  of  the  world,  in  the  midst  of 
a  numerous  Indian  population,  on  the  great  line  of  travel 
between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  River.  Kaskas- 
kia  and  the  neighboring  settlements  held  the  centre  of  the 
long  line  extending  from  Canada  to  Louisiana.  The  Wabash 
colony  commanded  that  valley  and  the  Lower  Ohio.  De- 
troit was  a  position  so  important  that,  securely  held  by  the 
French,  it  practically  banished  from  the  English  mind  for 
fifty  years  the  thought  of  acquiring  the  Northwest.  The 
Indians  and  the  beavers  have  long  since  disappeared  from 
the  region  lying  between  the  lakes  and  the  Mississippi ;  that 
region  has  twice  changed  hands  since  those  early  days ;  the 
whole  country  has  been  transformed  by  the  hand  of  man; 
but  the  Saut  Canal,  the  Mackinaw  shipping,  and  the  cities  of 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  Detroit  show  us  how  geography  con- 
ditions history,  as  well  as  that  the  savage  and  the  civilized 
man  have  much  in  common.  Then  how  unerringly  were  the 
French  guided  to  the  carrying  places  between  the  Northern 
and  the  Southern  waters,  viz.,  Green  Bay,  Fox  River,  and 

1  Cooley:  Michigan,  in  Commonwealth  Series,  II. 


46  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  Wisconsin  ;  the  Chicago  River  and  the  Illinois  ;  the  St. 
Joseph  and  the  Kankakee ;  the  St.  Joseph  and  the  Wabash  ; 
the  Maumee  and  the  Wabash  ;  and,  later,  on  the  eve  of  the 
war  that  gave  New  France  to  England,  the  Chautauqua  and 
French  Creek  routes  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio. 

Much  of  this  work  was  done  while  hostilities  were  in 
progress.  About  the  time  that  King  William's  War  began, 
in  1689,  Governors  Dongan  and  Denonville  were  both  recalled. 
No  English  governor  or  commander  succeeded  to  Dongan's 
ideas,  while  Count  Frontenac  vigorously  prosecuted  the  pol- 
icy of  La  Salle.  In  America  the  advantage  of  the  war  lay  de- 
cidedly with  the  French.  The  Iroquois  never  recovered  from 
the  blows  that  Frontenac  dealt  them.  The  Northwestern 
Indians  were  more  completely  wedded  to  the  French  interest. 
Louisiana  was  colonized.  Posts  and  settlements  connecting 
the  mouths  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi  were  es- 
tablished. The  Strait  of  Detroit  was  guarded  by  a  fortified 
post.  The  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  that  will  be  more  fully  char- 
acterized in  another  place,  left  all  colonial  disputes  to  future 
wars.  The  English  challenge  to  the  discoverers  of  the  West 
was  hurled  back  beyond  the  mountains,  there  to  lie  until  re- 
newed a  half-century  later.  But  the  challenge  had  been 
given,  and  was  sure  to  be  renewed ;  and  it  is  very  probable 
that,  if  a  statesman  having  the  genius  of  William  Pitt  had 
then  directed  British  counsels,  British  ascendancy  in  the 
Western  country  would  have  been  established  during  the 
progress  of  King  William's  War. 

Still  New  York  did  not  at  once  resign  her  Western  plans 
and  aspirations.  In  1701  the  Iroquois  conveyed  to  King 
William  III.  all  their  claims  to  the  country  formerly  occu- 
pied by  the  Hurons.  These  were  the  lands  bounded  by 
Lakes  Ontario,  Huron,  and  Erie,  "  containing  in  length  about 
800  miles,  and  in  breadth  400  miles,  including  the  country 
where  beavers  and  all  sorts  of  wild  game  keeps."  '  The  Iro- 

1  Campbell  :  Political  History  of  Michigan,  57. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  47 

quois  did  not  lay  claim  to  the  Lower  Peninsula  of  Michigan, 
but  this  grant  nevertheless  covered  Detroit  or  "  Fort  De 
Tret,"  as  the  deed  calls  it.  Nor  did  the  French  feel  alto- 
gether easy.  La  Motte  Cadillac,  afterward  governor  of  Louisi- 
ana, who  had  for  some  time  seen  that  the  fort  at  Detroit  was 
no  longer  adequate,  recommended  a  settlement.  Receiving 
little  encouragement  in  Canada,  he  carried  his  plan  across  the 
ocean.  He  returned  with  authority  from  the  minister  Pon- 
chartrain  to  carry  it  out.  Cadillac  came  to  the  spot,  July  24, 
1701,  with  fifty  soldiers  and  fifty  artisans  and  tradesmen,  a 
Jesuit  missionary,  and  a  Recollet.  chaplain.  He  built  a  fort, 
which  he  named  Ponchartrain,  for  the  French  minister,  and 
began  the  settlement  of  Detroit.  This  settlement  marks  the 
real  beginning  of  civil  and  political  history  within  the  present 
limits  of  Michigan. 

In  due  time  the  French  began  to  establish  themselves  on 
the  Northern  frontier  of  the  British  colonies.  They  built 
Fort  Niagara  in  1726,  four  years  after  the  English  built  Fort 
Oswego.  Following  the  early  footsteps  of  Champlain,  they 
ascended  to  the  head  of  the  lake  that  bears  his  name,  where 
they  fortified  Crown  Point  in  1727,  and  Ticonderoga  in  1731. 
Presque  Isle,  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Erie,  was  occupied 
about  the  time  that  Vincennes  was  founded  in  the  Wabash 
Valley.  Finally,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  last  struggle  between 
England  and  France,  the  French  pressed  into  the  valleys  of 
the  Alleghany  and  the  Ohio,  at  the  same  time  that  the  Eng- 
lish also  began  to  enter  them. 

Writers  like  Monette,  with  a  strong  French  bias,  speak 
admiringly  of  the  growth  of  the  French  settlements  in  the 
West.1  This  was  more  rapid  than  the  early  growth  of  the 
Canadian  settlements,  but  very  slow  as  measured  by  the  Eng- 
lish colonies,  not  to  speak  of  the  Western  settlements  of  the 
United  States. 

In  1712  old  Kaskaskia  was  the  capital  of  Illinois.     In  1721 

1  History  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Book  II.,  Chaps.  IIL,  IV. 


48  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

it  was  the  seat  of  a  college  and  a  monastery.  Fort  Chartres, 
founded  in  1720,  was  the  later  capital,  and  one  of  the  most 
formidable  fortresses  on  the  continent.  A  report  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  Mississippi  settlements  in  1766  assigns  sixty- 
five  permanent  families  to  Kaskaskia,  forty-five  to  Cahokia, 
sixteen  to  St.  Philip,  twelve  to  Prairie  du  Rocher,  and  forty  to 
Fort  Chartres.  These  villages,  with  the  outlying  farms,  prob- 
ably represented  a  population  of  twenty-five  hundred  souls. 
But  this  was  after  the  English  domination  began,  and  the  de- 
cline may  have  already  begun.  Monette  claims  a  population 
of  two  or  three  thousand  for  Kaskaskia  when  it  was  at  its 
best  estate.  He  also  asserts  that,  in  1730,  the  settlements  on 
the  Illinois  embraced  one  hundred  and  forty  families,  besides 
about  six  hundred  converted  Indians,  many  traders,  voyageurs, 
and  coureurs  des  bois.  In  1765  Croghan,  the  Indian  agent, 
found  about  one  hundred  families  at  Vincennes  and  Ouia- 
tenon,  and  no  doubt  there  were  others  scattered  along  the 
river  thus  he  did  not  see.  The  same  year  Rogers,  the 
redoubtable  partisan  soldier,  found  eighty  or  one  hundred 
families,  and  about  six  hundred  souls,  within  the  stockade  at 
Detroit,  and  about  twenty-five  hundred  in  the  settlement, 
which  extended  up  and  down  the  river,  on  both  sides,  some 
eight  miles.  'Judge  Walker  estimates  the  total  white  popula- 
tion between  the  lakes  and  the  two  rivers  at  ten  thousand,  at 
the  close  of  the  war  that  transferred  the  sovereignty  to  Eng- 
land, and  the  estimate  would  seem  a  liberal  one.1 

•Surely  this  is  a  poor  showing  for  three  quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury of  growth  in  the  garden  of  the  West.  But  we  must  re- 
member the  ideas  upon  which  New  France  was  builded. 
The  trader  was  opposed  to  settlements  because  they  meant 
the  destruction  of  his  trade.  The  Jesuit  was  opposed  to  them 
because  they  meant  the  destruction  of  his  mission-field.  The 
voyageur  and  the  coureur  des  bois  were  opposed  to  them  be- 

1  The  Northwest  during  the  Revolution,  in  Michigan  Pioneer  Collections, 
III.,  12  et  seq. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  49 

cause  they  meant  the  destruction  of  their  favorite  modes  of 
life.  Only  the  soldier  was  left,  and  his  business  was  not  col- 
onization. Then  the  French  people,  dearly  attached  to  their 
native  country,  have  no  real  genius  for  colonies.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  the  French  Protestants  would  have  been 
only  too  glad  to  plant  colonies  in  America  that  would  have 
shed  lustre  upon  the  name  of  France ;  but  the  same  spirit 
that  made  them  desirous  of  removing  to  America  made  it 
impossible  for  them  to  do  so.  Great  pains  were  taken  to 
protect  the  colonies  against  dangerous  ideas.  The  strength 
that  comes  from  freedom  and  self-dependence  was  resolutely 
suppressed  ;  colonial  initiative  in  business  or  politics  was  not 
permitted  ;  trade,  and  particularly  the  fur-trade,  was  kept  in 
the  hands  of  grinding  monopolies ;  there  was  no  politics,  no 
printing  press,  no  independent  intellectual  or  religious  life  ;  the 
throne  was  the  seat  of  power  as  well  as  the  fountain  of  honor ; 
in  a  word,  New  France  was  protected  to  death.  The  Old 
Regime  crushed  the  life  out  of  Canada,  but  no  Frenchmen  in 
the  world  were  more  devoted  to  the  Old  Regime  than  the 
Canadians.  The  king  expended  great  sums  of  money  on  the 
colony,  but  corruption  in  Quebec,  if  possible,  was  ranker  than 
corruption  in  Paris.  A  colony  without  colonists  is  an  im- 
possibility, but  this  the  home  government  did  not  seem  to 
understand.  Some  of  the  more  far-seeing  governors  called 
for  agriculturists  and  artisans,  and  notably  Jonquiere,  who 
wanted  ten  thousand  peasants  sent  over  to  people  the  Ohio 
Valley;  but  these  calls  made  little  impression,  and  led  to  no 
change  of  policy. 

In  1765  Croghan  reported  the  habitants  of  the  Wabash  as 
"an  idle,  lazy  people,  a  parcel  of  renegades  from  Canada," 
"  much  worse  than  the  Indians,"  and  those  of  the  Detroit 
as  "  generally  poor  wretches,  a  lazy,  idle  people  depending 
chiefly  on  the  savages  for  subsistence,"  "  whose  manners  and 
customs  they  have  certainly  adopted."  Judge  Walker  sup- 
poses that  these  descriptions  apply  to  the  voyageurs  and 
coureurs  des  bois>  who  flocked  into  the  settlements  in  great 
4 


50  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

numbers  in  periods  of  idleness,  rather  than  to  the  active  and 
substantial  traders  and  farmers,  "  many  of  them  respectable, 
and  some  of  noble  birth  and  connections."  *  No  doubt  this  is 
perfectly  true,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  French  settlements 
produced  these  classes  in  great  numbers.  In  fact,  one  reason 
why  the  Frenchman  got  on  so  happily  with  the  Indians  was 
that  he  readily  became  an  Indian  himself.  This  peculiar  de- 
velopment of  wilderness-life  is  pertinent  to  Dr.  Ellis's  preg- 
nant remark,  that  for  every  Indian  converted  to  Christianity 
hundreds  of  white  men  have  fallen  to  the  level  of  barbarism. 
Besides,  Croghan  visited  the  Wabash  and  the  Detroit  soon 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the  population  was  no  doubt 
much  demoralized. 

Y"  The  industries  of  the  Western  settlements  were  furs, 
peltries,  and  agriculture.  Twenty  thousand  hides  and  skins 
are  said  to  have  been  shipped  from  the  Wabash  in  1705.  The 
towns  on  the  Mississippi  were  peculiarly  well  situated  to  carry 
on  the  fur-trade,  since  they  could  reach  the  whole  upper 
country  to  the  very  sources  of  the  river.  The  settlers  early 
began  to  cultivate  the  soil.  Besides  growing  maize  and  the 
vegetables  of  the  New  World,  they  introduced  the  European 
grains,  vegetables,  and  fruits.  In  1746  the  Wabash  country 
shipped  six  hundred  barrels  of  flour  to  New  Orleans,  be- 
sides large  quantities  of  hides,  peltry,  tallow,  and  bees-wax. 
The  Detroit  habitants  also  cultivated  the  soil,  but  that  settle- 
ment drew  large  quantities  of  supplies  from  the  Illinois. 
Describing  the  trade  that  sprung  up  between  the  Illinois 
country  and  Lower  Louisiana,  Monette  says,  furs,  peltries, 
grain,  flour,  etc.,  were  sent  down  the-  Mississippi  to  Mobile, 
and  thence  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  Europe ;  "  and  in 
return,  the  luxuries  and  refinements  of  European  capitals 
were  carried  to  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  and  Kaskaskia 
Rivers."  Chartres  was  "  the  centre  of  life  and  fashion  in 
the  West."  "  The  Jesuit  College  at  Kaskaskia  continued  to 

1  Michigan  Pioneer  Collections,  III.,  12  et  seq. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE   THE   NORTHWEST.  51 

flourish  until  the  irruption  of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain." 
The  same  writer  finds  "six  distinct  settlements,  with  their 
respective  villages,"  on  the  Mississippi  in  1731,  extending 
from  Cahokia,  five  miles  below  the  present  site  of  St.  Louis, 
to  Kaskaskia  on  the  river  of  that  name,  five  miles  above  its 
mouth. 

While  conceding  such  decided  advantages  to  the  French 
in  their  competition  with  the  English  that  he  expresses  sur- 
prise that  their  grip  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi 
was  ever  loosened,  Professor  Shaler  still  holds  that  they  had 
some  disadvantages.  Canada  is  covered  with  drift,  which  is 
commonly  fitted  for  cultivation  at  great  cost  of  labor,  and  is 
north  of  the  corn  and  pumpkin  belt.  After  describing  the 
American  method  of  tilling  the  corn  and  the  pumpkin,  by 
which  two  crops  are  produced  on  the  same  land  in  one  year, 
while  the  girdled  trees  are  still  standing,  Professor  Shaler 
remarks  :  "  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that,  but  for  these 
American  plants  and  the  American  method  of  tilling  them, 
it  would  have  been  decidedly  more  difficult  to  have  fixed 
the  early  colonies  on  this  shore."  '  The  point  is  well  taken  as 
to  Canada,  but  not  as  to  the  West,  where  the  two  plants  were 
thoroughly  native  to  the  soil. 

The  first  Louisiana,  in  a  geographical  sense,  is  that  of 
Franquelin's  great  map,  1684.  On  the  Gulf  it  extends  from 
Mobile  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande ;  on  the  north,  the 
line  runs  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  then  northwest 
by  the  sources  of  the  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Michigan  until 
lost  in  the  far  North.  East  and  west,  it  takes  in  the  drainage 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Gulf  streams  beyond  as  far  as 
the  Rio  Grande/  The  first  political  Louisiana  was  the  grant 
made  to  Anthony  Crozat,  in  1712:  "The  River  St.  Louis, 
heretofore  called  the  Mississippi,  from  the  edge  of  the  sea  as 
far  as  the  Illinois,  together  with  the  River  of  St.  Philip,  here- 

1  The  Physiography  of  North  America  :  Introduction  to  Narrative  and  Criti- 
cal History  of  America,  IV. 

8  Parkman  :  La  Salle,  289,  note. 


52  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

tofore  called  the  Missouri,  and  of  the  St.  Jerome,  heretofore 
called  the  Ouabache,  with  all  the  countries,  territories,  lakes 
within  land,  and  the  rivers  which  fall  directly  or  indirectly  into 
that  part  of  the  river  St.  Louis." l  Crozat's  Louisiana  was  a 
separate  colony,  but  not  wholly  independent  of  Canada.  In 
1717  Illinois,  with  limits  not  very  different  from  those  of  the 
present  State,  was  made  a  separate  government,  but  still  de- 
pendent upon  Louisiana.  Still  later  the  Wabash  country  was 
separated  from  Illinois.  It  is  foreign  to  our  own  purpose  to 
describe  the  machinery  by  which  these  governments  were  car- 
ried on.  But  they  were  personal  governments — governments 
of  officers  not  of  laws.  The  governor  and  the  intendant  com- 
monly quarrelled,  as  the  king  no  doubt  expected  and  desired 
them  to  do.  What  constant  pains  were  taken  to  smother  the 
very  germs  of  political  life  is  well  shown  by  a  letter  that 
Colbert  wrote  to  Frontenac  in  1672. 

"  It  is  well  for  you  to  observe  that  you  are  always  to  follow 
in  the  government  of  Canada  the  forms  in  use  here  ;  and  since 
our  kings  have  long  regarded  it  as  good  for  their  service  not 
to  convoke  the  states  of  the  kingdom,  in  order,  perhaps,  to 
abolish  insensibly  this  ancient  usage,  you  on  your  part  should 
very  rarely,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  never  give  a  corporate 
form  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada.  You  should  even,  as  the 
colony  strengthens,  suppress  gradually  the  office  of  the  syndic 
whb  presents  petitions  in  the  name  of  the  inhabitants  ;  for  it  is 
well  that  each  should  speak  for  himself  and  none  for  all."  3 

Such  a  letter  as  this  prepares  us  for  the  fact  that  "  on 
politics  and  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  they  [the  Illinois  inhabi- 
tants] never  suffered  their  minds  to  feel  a  moment's  anxiety, 
believing  implicitly  that  France  ruled  the  world  and  all  must 
be  right."  Major  Stoddard,  writing  about  the  year  1804,  says 
that  the  people  of  Louisiana  "did  not  relish  at  first  the  change 
in  the  administration  of  justice  when  they  came  under  the  j'uris- 

1  Narrative  and  Critical  History,  V.,  28.  2  Cooley :  Michigan,  9,  10. 


THE   FRENCH   COLONIZE  THE   NORTHWEST.  S3 

diction  of  the  United  States.  The  delays  and  the  uncertainty 
attendant  on  trial  by  jury,  and  the  multifarious  technicali- 
ties of  our  jurisprudence,  they  could  not  well  comprehend, 
either  as  to  its  import  or  its  utility,  and  it  is  not  strange 
that  they  should  have  preferred  the  more  prompt  and  less  ex- 
pensive decisions  of  the  Spanish  tribunals."  ' 

The  French  colonists  were  utterly  indifferent  to  what  Ameri- 
cans call  political  rights.  They  could  no  more  comprehend 
the  men  trained  in  the  English  colonial  school  than  such  men 
could  comprehend  them.  What  fervent  appeals  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  made  to  the  Canadians  to  join  in  the  war 
against  Great  Britain !  What  sacrifices  the  States  made  to 
break  the  British  power  in  Canada !  And  what  a  very  meagre 
response  was  made  to  the  appeals  and  sacrifices  alike  !  Some 
of  the  Canadians  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  States  :  the  West- 
ern habitants  were  generally  friendly  to  the  patriot  cause,  but 
this  was  owing  to  their  hostility  to  England  rather  than  to 
any  conception  that  they  had  of  what  was  involved  in  the 
contest.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  better  measure  of  the  provin- 
cialism of  the  Revolutionary  Fathers  than  their  quiet  assump- 
tion that  the  Canadians,  steeped  to  the  lips  in  anci&L.r£gime, 
had  political  sentiments  and  aspirations  like  their  own.  Pos- 
sibly the  national  pride  of  a  few  Canadians  was  touched 
when  the  Congress  of  1774,  in  the  address  to  the  people 
of  Canada,  invoked  the  shade  of  "  the  immortal  Montes- 
quieu ;  "  but  that  was  all.  The  incapacity  of  the  Canadians 
to  manage  representative  institutions  and  the  jury  system  was 
urged  as  a  reason  for  restoring  the  French  system  of  laws, 
when  the  Quebec  bill  was  before  Parliament ;  and  it  is  impos- 
sible to  deny  force  to  the  argument.  In  fact,  the  want  of 
political  ideas  and  habits,  on  the  part  of  the  habitants  of  Illi- 
nois, was  a  serious  inconvenience  when  the  time  came  to  or- 
ganize society  on  an  Anglo-Saxon  basis. 

Finally,  the  cruel  oppression  of  the  monopolies,  and  the 

1  Monette  :   History  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  i.,  19 1,  194, 


54  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

restrictive  policy  of  the  government,  had  much  to  do  with 
driving  the  young  men  of  Canada  from  regular  industry  into 
the  woods ;  and  the  remoteness  of  the  Illinois  settlements 
from  Quebec  and  New  Orleans  helps  to  explain  their  com- 
parative prosperity. 

Turgot  was  right  when  he  compared  colonies  to  fruit  that 
falls  to  the  ground  when  ripe,  but  colonies  never  ripen  under 
such  a  regimen  as  this. 


V. 

ENGLAND  WRESTS  THE  NORTHWEST   FROM 

FRANCE ! 

THE  FIRST  TREATY  OF  PARIS. 

THIS  contest  was  the  culmination  of  the  long  and  bitter 
struggle  of  England  and  France  for  supremacy  in  the  New- 
World.  I  shall  rapidly  review  the  main  facts  leading  up  to 
this  culmination,  and  then  assign  to  the  West  its  place  in  the 
controversy. 

Professor  J.  R.  Seeley  has  attempted  to  show  that  "  Ex- 
pansion "  is  the  key  to  English  history  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries ;  that  the  wars  of  England  and  France 
grew  out  of  their  colonial  rivalries ;  and  that  the  explanation 
of  the  policies  of  the  two  powers  must  be  sought  in  Asia,  the 
Indies,  and  America.1  There  is  a  considerable  measure  of 
truth  in  the  propositions  that  the  English  professor  expounds 
with  so  much  eloquence  and  learning;  but  there  is  an  unmis- 
takable difference  between  the  first  four  Anglo-French  wars 
in  America  and  the  last  one  of  the  series.  The  very  names 
that  three  of  them  bear  indicate  their  origin  and  nature :  they 
were  wars  of  kings  and  queens.  These  wars  began  in  Europe ; 
they  grew  out  of  Old  World  quarrels,  and  the  treaties  of 
peace  that  ended  them  were  mainly  concerned  with  Old 
World  matters.  The  colonies  fought  because  the  mother 
countries  fought.  The  fifth  and  last  of  these  wars  began  in 
America  ;  it  was  waged  here  two  years  before  it  was  declared 

1  The  Expansion  of  England. 


$6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

in  Europe;  it  involved  a  distinct  and  most  important  Ameri- 
can question ;  and  the  terms  of  peace  affected  the  welfare  and 
destiny  of  America  more  than  of  any  other  part  of  the  globe. 

In  1629,  when  the  colonies  of  both  powers  were  in  their 
very  infancy,  David  Kirk  captured  Quebec  and  sent  the  garri- 
son to  Europe;  but,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  conquest 
was  given  up  to  France,  and  the  life  of  the  colony  began 
again. 

King  William's  War,  1689-97,  was  but  t^ie  extension  to 
America  of  the  great  European  contest  growing  out  of  the 
ascension  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne  of  England. 
The  most  striking  features  of  this  war  are  the  massacres  of 
Schenectady,  Salmon  Falls,  the  seizure  and  plunder  of  Port 
Royal,  and  the  two  unsuccessful  attempts  to  invade  and  reduce 
Canada,  one  made  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  and  the  other 
by  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence.  Peace  came  with  the  Treaty  of 
Ryswick  in  1697,  each  belligerent  surrendering  all  countries, 
islands,  forts,  and  colonies,  wherever  situated,  that  he  had  capt- 
ured, belonging  to  the  other  at  the  opening  of  hostilities. 

Queen  Anne's  War,  1702-13,  was  a  prolongation  of  the 
one  that  preceded  it.  It  is  the  American  phase  of  the  war 
of  the  Spanish  succession.  Again  the  English  colonists  cap- 
tured Port  Royal,  thenceforth  called  Annapolis,  and  again 
they  vainly  attempted,  both  by  the  Champlain  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  routes,  the  reduction  of  Canada.  America  is  much 
more  prominent  in  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  than  in  the  Treaty 
of  Ryswick.  Newfoundland  and  the  adjacent  islands,  and 
Nova  Scotia,  or  Acadia,  "  with  its  ancient  boundaries,"  were 
ceded  to  the  English  Crown.  The  treaty  also  restored  to 
Great  Britain  the  Hudson  Bay  region,  which  had  fallen  into 
French  hands,  and  contained  an  agreement,  "  on  both  sides, to 
determine  within  a  year,  by  commissaries  to  be  chosen  forth- 
with, named  by  each  party,  the  limits  which  are  to  be  fixed 
between  the  said  Bay  of  Hudson  and  the  places  appertaining 
to  France."  Another  stipulation  of  the  treaty  was  the  spring- 
ing point  of  bitter  controversies  that  we  shall  have  occasion  to 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED    FROM   FRANCE.         57 

touch  upon  hereafter.  This  was  the  admission,  on  the  part 
of  France,  that  "  the  five  nations  or  cantons  of  Indians  "  were 
"subject  to  Great  Britain." 

King  George's  War,  1744-48,  is  the  American  phase  of 
the  war  of  the  Austrian  succession.  The  single  incident  that 
need  be  mentioned  is  the  capture,  by  the  English  colonists, 
aided  by  a  British  fleet,  of  Louisburg  and  the  whole  island  of 
Cape  Breton,  an  heroic  exploit  that  was  rendered  abortive  by 
the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  restored  all  conquests 
made  in  the  war,  on  either  side,  to  the  original  owners.  For 
many  years  there  had  been  angry  disputes  between  the  two 
powers  concerning  their  American  boundaries.  In  particular 
had  there  been  a  dispute  as  to  the  boundaries  of  Acadia,  sur- 
rendered by  France  to  England  in  1713,  His  Britannic  Majesty 
claiming  the  vast  region  bounded  by  the  Gulf  and  River  St. 
Lawrence,  the  ocean,  and  New  England,  His  most  Christian 
Majesty  denying  that  his  royal  brother  was  entitled,  by  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht,  to  more  than  a  part  of  the  peninsula 
of  Nova/Scotia.  The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  left  all  these 
questions  open,  and  provided  for  a  commission  empowered  to 
settle  them.  This  commission  was  appointed,  but  it  never 
accomplished  more  in  its  three  years'  discussions  than  to  ac- 
cumulate some  volumes  of  arguments  that  convinced  nobody. 
The  fact  is,  the  question  at  issue  had  got  beyond  the  power  of 
diplomatists  in  the  year  1748.  All  they  could  do  was  to  leave 
it  for  soldiers  to  settle. 

Matters  were  left  in  such  condition,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  that  the  peace 
could  not  last  long  on  either  continent.  We  are  not  concerned 
with  the  situation  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  but  on  this 
side  we  must  give  it  a  rapid  survey. 

The  close  of  King  George's  War  was  marked  by  an  ex- 
traordinary development  of  interest  in  the  Western  country. 
The  Pennsylvanians  and  Virginians  had  worked  their  way 
well  up  to  the  eastern  foot-hills  of  the  last  range  of  mountains 
separating  them  from  the  interior.  Even  the  Connecticut 


58  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

men  were  ready  to  overleap  the  province  of  New  York  and 
take  possession  of  the  Susquehanna.  The  time  for  the 
English  colonists  to  attempt  the  Great  Mountains  in  force 
had  been  long  in  coming,  but  it  had  plainly  arrived. 

In  1748  the  Ingles-Draper  settlement,  the  first  regular 
settlement  of  English-speaking  men  on  the  Western  waters, 
was  made  at  "  Draper's  Meadow,"  on  the  New  River,  a 
branch  of  the  Kanawha.  The  same  year  Dr.  Thomas  Walker, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  Virginia  gentlemen  and  a  party 
of  hunters,  made  their  way  by  Southwestern  Virginia  into 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  names  of  Cumberland  River, 
Cumberland  Mountains,  Cumberland  Gap,  and  Louisa  River 
are  mementos  of  this  excursion.  The  Cumberlands  all  take 
their  name  from  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  hero  of  Cullo- 
den,  celebrated  in  Campbell's  line — 

"Proud  Cumberland  prances,  insulting  the  slain," 

and  the  Louisa  River  was  named  for  the  royal  duke's  wife. 

The  same  year  the  Ohio  company,  consisting  of  thirteen 
prominent  Virginians  and  Marylanders,  and  one  London  mer- 
chant, was  formed.  Its  avowed  objects  were  to  speculate  in 
Western  lands,  and  to  carry  on  trade  on  an  extensive  scale 
with  the  Indians.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  contemplated 
the  settlement  of  a  new  colony.  The  company  obtained 
from  the  crown  a  conditional  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  to  be  located  mainly  be- 
tween the  Monongahela  and  Kanawha  Rivers,  and  it  ordered 
large  shipments  of  goods  for  the  Indian  trade  from  London. 
These  goods  were  to  be  carried  to  the  Upper  Potomac,  and 
then,  by  a  road  that  the  company  proposed  to  build  for  trans- 
portation and  travel,  to  the  waters  of  the  Ohio.  In  1750  the 
company  sent  Christopher  Gist,  a  veteran  woodsman  and 
trader  living  on  the  Yadkin,  down  the  northern  side  of  the 
Ohio,  with  instructions,  as  Mr.  Bancroft  summarizes  them, 
"  to  examine  the  Western  country  as  far  as  the  Falls  of  the 
Ohio ;  to  look  for  a  large  tract  of  good  level  land ;  to  mark 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         59 

the  passes  in  the  mountains ;  to  trace  the  courses  of  the 
rivers ;  to  count  the  falls ;  to  observe  the  strength  of  the 
Indian  nations."1  Under  these  instructions,  Gist  made  the 
first  English  exploration  of  Southern  Ohio  of  which  we  have 
any  report.  The  next  year  he  made  a  similar  exploration  of 
the  country  south  of  the  Ohio,  as  far  as  the  Great  Kanawha. 
The  determination  of  the  company  is  shown  by  its  declara- 
tion that  it  would  go  to  the  Mississippi,  if  necessary,  in  order 
to  find  good  lands.  Gist's  reports  of  his  explorations  added  to 
the  growing  interest  in  the  over-mountain  country.  At  that 
time  the  Ohio  Valley  was  waste  and  unoccupied,  save  by  the 
savages,  but  adventurous  traders,  mostly  Scotch-Irish,  and 
commonly  men  of  reckless  character  and  loose  morals,  made 
trading  excursions  as  far  as  the  River  Miami.  The  Indian 
town  of  Pickawillany,  on  the  upper  waters  of  that  stream, 
became  a  great  centre  of  English  trade  and  influence. 

Another  evidence  of  the  growing  interest  in  the  West  is 
the  fact  that  the  colonial  authorities,  in  every  direction,  were 
seeking  to  obtain  Indian  titles  to  the  Western  lands,  and  to 
bind  the  Indians  to  the  English  by  treaties.  The  Iroquois 
had  long  claimed,  by  right  of  conquest,  the  country  from  the 
Cumberland  Mountains  to  the  Lower  Lakes  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  for  many  years  the  authorities  of  New  York  had 
been  steadily  seeking  to  gain  a  firm  treaty-hold  of  that  coun- 
try. In  1684,  the  Iroquois,  at  Albany,  placed  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  King  Charles  and  the  Duke  of  York  ; 
in  1726,  they  conveyed  all  their  lands  in  trust  to  England,  to 
be  protected  and  defended  by  his  Majesty  to  and  for  the  use 
of  the  grantors  and  their  heirs,  which  was  an  acknowledg- 
ment by  the  Indians  of  what  the  French  had  acknowledged 
thirteen  years  before  at  Utrecht.  In  1744,  the  very  year  that 
King  George's  War  began,  the  deputies  of  the  Iroquois,  at 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  confirmed  to  Maryland  the  lands  within  that 
province,  and  made  to  Virginia  a  deed  that  covered  the  whole 

1  History,  ii.,  362,  363. 


60  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

West  as  effectually  as  the  Virginian  interpretation  of  the 
charter  of  1609,  soon  to  be  noticed.  This  treaty  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  subsequent  history ;  it  is  the  starting- 
point  of  later  negotiations  with  the  Indians  concerning  West- 
ern lands.  It  gave  the  English  their  first  real  treaty-hold 
upon  the  West ;  and  it  stands  in  all  the  statements  of  the 
English  claim  to  the  Western  country,  side  by  side  with 
the  Cabot  voyages.  Again  at  Albany,  in  1748,  the  bonds 
binding  the  Six  Nations  and  the  English  together  were 
strengthened,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Miamis  were  brought 
within  the  covenant  chain.  In  1750-54  negotiators  were 
busy  with  attempts  to  draw  to  the  English  interest  the  West- 
ern tribes.  Council  fires  burned  at  Logstown,  at  Shawnee- 
town,  and  at  Pickawillany,  and  generally  with  results  favor- 
able to  the  English. 

There  was,  indeed,  no  small  amount  of  dissension  among 
the  colonies,  and  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  they  were  all 
working  together  to  effect  a  common  purpose.  The  royal 
governors  could  not  agree.  There  were  bitter  dissensions  be- 
tween governors  and  assemblies.  Colony  was  jealous  of  col- 
ony. Mercenary  traders  appealed  to  the  fears  of  the  Indians, 
telling  them,  what  was  true  enough,  that  the  English  wanted 
their  lands.  Every  argument  pointed  to  the  necessity  of  for- 
tifying the  Forks  of  the  Ohio  ;  but  the  dispute  as  to  jurisdic- 
tion between  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  which  broke  out  in 
1752  not  only  left  the  increasing  population  to  its  own  nat- 
ural turbulence,  because  neither  colony  ventured  to  appoint 
magistrates,  but  made  both  wary  of  spending  money  that 
might  prove  to  be  for  the  greater  advantage  of  the  other.  It 
is  to  be  feared  that  English  interests  in  the  West  would  have 
been  wrecked  at  last  had  they  been  abandoned  wholly  to 
governors  and  assemblies.  There  were  men  among  them  of 
statesman-like  forecast,  but  these  could  not  give  direction  to 
affairs.  Fortunately,  the  cause  of  England  and  the  colonies 
was  not  abandoned  to  politicians.  The  time  had  come  for 
the  Anglo-Saxon  column,  that  had  been  so  long  in  reaching 


THE    NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         6l 

them,  to  pass  the  Endless  Mountains ;  and  the  logic  of  events 
swept  everything  into  the  Westward  current. 

In  the  years  following  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  the 
French  were  not  idle.  Galissoniere,  the  governor  of  Canada, 
thoroughly  comprehended  what  was  at  stake.  In  1749  he 
sent  Celeron  de  Bienville  into  the  Ohio  Valley,  with  a  suit- 
able escort  of  whites  and  savages,  to  take  formal  possession  of 
the  valley  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  France,  to  propitiate 
the  Indians,  and  in  all  ways  short  of  actual  warfare  to  thwart 
the  English  plans.  Bienville  crossed  the  portage  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Lake  Chautauqua,  the  easternmost  of  the  portages 
from  the  Lakes  to  the  southern  streams  ever  used  by  the 
French,  and  made  his  way  by  the  Alleghany  River  and  the 
Ohio  as  far  as  the  Miami,  and  returned  by  the  Maumee  and 
Lake  Erie  to  Montreal.  His  report  to  the  governor  was  any- 
thing but  reassuring.  He  found  the  English  traders  swarm- 
ing in  the  valley,  and  the  Indians  generally  well  disposed  to 
the  English.  Nor  did  French  interests  improve  the  two  or 
three  succeeding  years. 

The  Marquis  Duquesne,  who  succeeded  Galissoniere,  soon 
discovered  the  drift  of  events.  He  saw  the  necessity  of  action  ; 
he  was  clothed  with  power  to  act,  and  he  was  a  man  of  action. 
And  so,  early  in  the  year  1753,  while  the  English  governors 
and  assemblies  were  still  hesitating  and  disputing,  he  sent  a 
strong  force  by  Lake  Ontario  and  Niagara  to  seize  and  hold 
the  northeastern  branches  of  the  Ohio.  This  was  a  master- 
stroke :  unless  recalled,  it  would  lead  to  war ;  and  Duquesne 
was  not  the  man  to  recall  it.  This  force,  passing  over  the 
portage  between  Presque  Isle  and  French  Creek,  constructed 
Forts  Le  Bceuf  and  Venango,  the  second  at  the  confluence  of 
French  Creek  and  the  Alleghany  River. 

George  Washington  now  makes  his  first  historical  appear- 
ance. He  comes  with  a  commission  from  Lieutenant-Governor 
Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia,  to  inquire  of  the  officer  commanding 
the  French  force  by  whose  authority  and  instructions  he  has 
invaded  the  territories  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  to 


62  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

demand  his  peaceable  departure.  He  returns  to  Williams- 
burg  with  the  answer  that  the  French  commander  will  refer 
the  matter  to  the  governor,  at  Quebec,  and  that  in  the  mean- 
time he  shall  continue  to  hold  his  ground.  It  was  now  winter, 
and  nothing  more  could  be  done  that  season,  but  early  the 
next  year  a  small  force  of  Virginians  was  sent  to  seize  and 
fortify  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio.  Before  the  works  that  should 
have  been  built  two  or  three  years  before  could  be  completed, 
or  the  men  building  them  could  be  reinforced,  the  French  de- 
scended the  Alleghany  in  stronger  numbers  and  captured  both 
fort  and  garrison.  They  demolished  the  English  fortification, 
and  built  a  much  stronger  one,  that  they  called  Fort  Duquesne. 
As  usual,  they  had  been  too  prompt  for  their  rivals.  They 
had  seized  the  door  to  the  West.  This  was  an  unmistakable 
act  of  war,  and  it  precipitated  at  once  the  inevitable  contest. 

"  Inevitable  contest  !  "  The  words  sound  like  a  decree  of 
fate.  But  when  two  hostile  armies,  moving  on  converging 
roads,  re^ach  the  point  of  convergence,  a  battle  follows.  The 
French  column,  with  the  St.  Lawrence  as  a  base,  has  been 
long  moving  in  the  direction  of  the  Ohio ;  the  English  col- 
umn, with  the  seaboard  as  a  base,  has  also  been  moving  tow- 
ard the  same  destination ;  they  enter  the  valley  at  practi- 
cally the  same  time,  the  French  asserting  their  right  to  the 
country  on  the  ground  of  discovery  and  occupation,  the  Eng- 
lish asserting  their  right  by  virtue  of  the  Cabot  voyages,  the 
Iroquois  protectorate,  and  the  Indian  purchases.  Given  the 
character  of  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen — given  the  geograph- 
ical relations  of  the  Atlantic  Plain  to  the  St.  Lawrence-Lake 
Basin,  and  the  relations  of  both  these  to  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, a  contest  for  the  West  was  inevitable  from  the  time  that 
the  foundations  of  Jamestown  and  Quebec  were  laid  down, 
unless,  indeed,  one  of  the  two  powers  should  overwhelm  the 
other  at  an  earlier  day. 

"  French  America  had  two  heads — one  among  the  snows  of 
Canada,  and  one  among  the  cane-brakes  of  Louisiana  ;   one 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         63 

communicating  with  the  world  through  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence, and  the  other  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  These  vital 
points  were  feebly  connected  by  a  chain  of  military  posts — 
slender  and  often  interrupted — circling  through  the  wilderness 
nearly  three  thousand  miles.  Midway  between  Canada  and 
Louisiana  lay  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio.  If  the  English  should 
seize  it,  they  would  sever  the  chain  of  posts  and  cut  French 
America  asunder.  If  the  French  held  it,  and  intrenched  them- 
selves well  along  its  eastern  limits,  they  would  shut  their  rivals 
between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  sea,  control  all  the  tribes  of 
the  West,  and  turn  them,  in  case  of  war,  against  the  English 
borders — a  frightful  and  insupportable  scourge."1 

Braddock's  army  was  the  wedge  intended  to  split  French 
America  asunder,  but  it  was  shattered  to  pieces  at  the  battle 
of  the  Monongahela. 

The  shifting  scenes  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  will  not 
here  be  painted  even  in  outline.  But  it  is  essential  to  bring 
out  in  bold  relief  several  of  its  larger  features. 

Mr.  Bancroft  says  the  question  at  the  opening  of  the  strug- 
gle was,  which  of  the  two  languages  should  be  the  mother 
tongue  of  the  future  millions  of  the  West — whether  the  Ro- 
manic or  the  Teutonic  race  should  form  the  seed  of  its  people. 
But  the  question  soon  became  wider  than  the  West.  From 
the  moment  that  William  Pitt  became,  in  1757,  the  genius  of 
the  English  Cabinet,  England  contemplated  nothing  less  than 
the  reduction  of  all  Canada.  Pitt's  policy  was  to  crush  the 
French  colonial  empire  in  both  worlds,  and  he  distinctively 
grasped  the  American  issue.  Mr.  John  Richard  Green  says  of 
Pitt :  "  He  felt  that  the  stake  he  was  playing  for  was  some- 
thing vaster  than  Britain's  standing  among  the  powers  of  Eu- 
rope. Even  while  he  backed  Frederick  in  Germany,  his  eye 
was  not  on  the  Weser,  but  on  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence. "  Pitt  himself  said  in  the  House  of  Commons :  "  If  I 


Parkman  :    Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  i.,  39-40. 


64  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

send  an  army  to  Germany,  it  is  because  in  Germany  I  can 
conquer  America."  1 

From  the  moment  that  the  war  became  one  of  conquest  it 
was  more  than  ever  a  war  of  geography.  The  French  strong- 
holds were  Louisburg  in  Cape  Breton,  Quebec  and  Montreal 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  Ticonderoga  at  the  head  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  Fort  Frontenac  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  Fort  Niag- 
ara on  the  river  of  that  name,  Detroit,  that  held  the  connec- 
tion between  the  lower  and  upper  Lakes,  and  Fort  Duquesne, 
at  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio.  Niagara  and  Duquesne  were  the 
two  keys  to  the  West.  Duquesne's  military  relation  to  the 
Ohio  Valley  was  more  important  then  than  its  commercial  re- 
lation is  now.  To  Canada  there  were  three  lines  of  approach  : 
one  by  Lake  Ontario,  one  by  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Riche- 
lieu, and  one  by  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence.  The  almost  insur- 
mountable obstacles  offered  by  every  one  of  these  were  over- 
come, and  in  1760  the  conquest  of  Canada  was  effected  by 
three  armies  that  converged  at  Montreal  from  the  three  direc- 
tions, on  the  same  day.  However,  when  the  war  became  one  of 
invasion  and  conquest  the  advantages  of  the  two  parties  were 
reversed — the  French  moved  on  the  exterior  and  longer,  and 
the  English  on  the  interior  and  shorter,  line. 

" '  Geography,'  says  Von  Moltke,  '  is  three-fourths  of  mili- 
tarytscience  ; '  and  never  was  the  truth  of  his  words  more  fully 
exemplified.  Canada  was  fortified  with  vast  outworks  of  de- 
fence in  the  savage  forests,  marshes,  and  mountains  that  en- 
compassed her,  where  the  thoroughfares  were  streams  choked 
with  fallen  trees  and  obstructed  by  cataracts.  Never  was 
the  problem  of  moving  troops  encumbered  with  baggage  and 
artillery  a  more  difficult  one.  The  question  was  less  how  to 
fight  the  enemy  than  how  to  get  at  him.  If  a  few  practicable 
roads  had  crossed  the  broad  tract  of  wilderness  the  war  would 
have  been  shortened  and  its  character  changed."  a 

!  History  of  the  English  People,  iv.,  195. 
*Parkman  :   Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  ii.,  380. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         65 

At  the  outset  both  of  the  powers  had  much  to  say  of 
boundaries  and  rights.  The  French  claimed,  by  right  of  dis- 
covery and  occupation,  all  lands  draining  to  the  St.  Lawrence, 
the  Lakes,  and  the  Mississippi,  a  plain  geographical  principle 
of  demarcation  that  would  have  given  them  much  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  all  the  West,  and  have 
confined  the  English  to  the  Atlantic  Plain.  It  is  true  that 
French  occupation,  while  perhaps  fulfilling  the  demands  of  in- 
ternational law,  did  not  answer  the  purposes  of  civilization ; 
but  when  we  contrast  the  heroic  ardor  of  the  French  voya- 
geurS)  soldiers,  and  priests  who  opened  up  the  Great  West  to 
the  vision  of  men  with  the  apathy  of  the  English  colonists, 
although  our  judgment  approve  the  final  issue,  we  can  but 
agree  with  Mr,  Parkman  when  he  says  France's  "  pretensions 
were  moderate  and  reasonable  compared  with  those  of  Eng- 
land."1 England  having  nothing  to  show  in  the  fields  of 
Western  discovery  and  exploration,  rested  on  the  Cabot 
voyages  and  the  Iroquois  title.  The  Cabot  title  was  never 
allowed  in  the  Court  of  Nations,  and  was  abandoned  in  1763 
by  England  herself,  while  the  acknowledgment  of  1713  that 
the  dominion  of  the  Iroquois  was  in  the  English  Government 
gave  but  the  flimsiest  claim  to  the  lands  south  of  the  Lakes. 

"The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  declared  the  Iroquois,  or  Five 
Nations,  to  be  British  subjects  ;  therefore  it  was  insisted  that 
all  countries  conquered  by  them  belonged  to  the  British 
Crown.  But  what  was  an  Iroquois  conquest?  The  Iroquois 
rarely  occupied  the  countries  they  overran.  Their  military 
expeditions  were  mere  raids,  great  or  small.  Sometimes,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Hurons,  they  made  a  solitude  and  called  it 
peace  ;  again,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Illinois,  they  drove  off  the 
occupants  of  the  soil,  who  returned  after  the  invaders  were 
gone.  But  the  range  of  their  war-parties  was  prodigious,  and 
the  English  laid  claim  to  every  mountain,  forest,  or  prairie 
where  an  Iroquois  had  taken  a  scalp."  * 

1  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  i.,  124,  125. 
8  Parkman  :   Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  i.,  125. 
5 


66  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

This  point  is  noted  with  particularity  because  important 
political  issues  turned  upon  it  at  a  later  day. 

But  the  discussion  of  "  rights  "  was  little  better  than  boys' 
play  then,  as  it  is  now.  The  contest  was  one  of  force,  and 
the  weight  of  the  English  sword  decided  the  issue. 

Two  years  after  the  first  skirmishing  in  the  backwoods  of 
Pennsylvania,  there  broke  out  in  Europe  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  which  swept  all  the  great  powers  into  its  vortex,  which 
extended  to  every  continent  and  reached  every  sea.  In 
Macaulay's  sweeping  phrase,  "  Black  men  fought  on  the  coast 
of  Coromandel,  and  red  men  scalped  each  other  by  the  Great 
Lakes  of  North  America."  It  was  the  first  and  only  European 
war  that  began  on  this  side  of  the  Ocean.  Its  close  saw  France 
discomfited  and  humiliated  in  both  worlds.  She  had  lost 
greater  dominions  than,  perhaps,  ever  changed  hands  at  the 
close  of  any  other  war  in  history.  But  there  is  no  more 
glorious  moment  in  the  history  of  England.  It  was  the  time 
when  every  Englishman  could  feel,  with  just  pride — 

"  That  Chatham's  language  was  his  mother-tongue, 
And  Wolfe's  great  heart  compatriot  with  his  own."  l 

On  this  continent,  the  long  conflict  culminated  September 
13,  1759,  when  the  armies  of  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  stood  face 
to  face  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham.  The  next  year  saw  the 
capitulation  of  Canada.  When  the  time  came  to  treat  for  a 
general  peace  in  1763,  the  King  of  France  bowed  to  the  fort- 
unes of  war  in  the  manner  following : 

"  His  most  Christian  Majesty  renounces  all  pretensions  which 
he  has  heretofore  formed,  or  might  form,  to  Nova  Scotia,  or 
Acadia,  in  all  its  parts,  and  guarantees  the  whole  of  it,  and  with 
all  its  dependencies,  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain  ;  moreover, 
his  most  Christian  Majesty  cedes  and  guarantees  to  his  said 
Britannic  Majesty,  in  full  right,  Canada,  with  all  its  depend- 
encies, as  well  as  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  all  other 
islands  and  coasts  in  the  Gulf  and  River  St.  Lawrence,  and,  in 

1  Seeley  :  The  Expansion  of  England,  22. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         67 

general,  everything  that  depends  on  the  said  countries,  lands, 
islands,  and  coasts,  with  the  sovereignty,  property,  possession, 
and  all  rights  acquired  by  treaty  or  otherwise,  which  the  most 
Christian  King,  and  the  Crown  of  France,  have  had  till  now 
over  the  said  countries,  islands,  lands,  places,  coasts,  and  their 
inhabitants,  so  that  the  most  Christian  King  cedes  and  makes 
over  the  whole  to  the  said  king,  and  to  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain,  and  that  in  the  most  ample  manner  and  form,  without 
restriction,  and  without  any  liberty  to  depart  from  the  said  ces- 
sion and  guarantee,  under  any  pretence,  or  to  disturb  Great 
Britain  in  the  possessions  above-mentioned. 

"  In  order  to  re-establish  peace  on  solid  and  durable  founda- 
tions, and  to  remove  forever  all  subject  of  dispute  with  regard 
to  the  limits  of  the  British  and  French  territories  on  the  conti- 
nent of  America,  it  is  agreed  that  for  the  future  the  confines 
between  the  dominions  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  and  those  of 
his  most  Christian  Majesty  in  that  part  of  the  world  shall  be 
fixed  irrevocably  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the 
River  Mississippi  from  its  source  to  the  River  Iberville,  and 
from  thence  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  this  river 
and  the  Lakes  Maurepas  and  Pontchartrain  to  the  sea ;  and 
for  this  purpose  the  most  Christian  King  cedes  in  full  right, 
and  guarantees  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  the  river  and  port  of 
the  Mobile,  and  everything  which  he  possesses,  or  ought  to 
possess,  on  the  left  side  of  the  River  Mississippi,  except  the 
town  of  New  Orleans  and  the  island  on  which  it  is  situated, 
which  shall  remain  to  France,  provided  that  the  navigation  of 
the  River  Mississippi  shall  be  equally  free,  as  well  to  the  sub- 
jects of  Great  Britain  as  to  those  of  France,  in  its  whole 
breadth  and  length,  from  its  source  to  the  sea  ;  and  expressly 
that  part  which  is  between  the  said  island  of  New  Orleans  and 
the  right  bank  of  that  river,  as  well  as  the  passage  both  in  and 
out  of  its  mouth."  l 

These  are  some  of  the  provisions  of  that  treaty,  which 
always  caused  Count  De  Vergennes  to  shudder  whenever  he 

1  Chalmers:  A  Collection  of  Treaties,  i.,  471,  473. 


68  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

thought   of  it,  and   that  called   out   explosions   of  volcanic 
wrath  from  the  first  Napoleon. 

Other  territorial  changes  deeply  affecting  the  course  of 
history  were  made  at  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  Spain 
had  taken  part  in  the  contest  as  an  ally  of  France.  England 
had  captured  Havana,  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  the  very  key  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  To  regain  that,  Spain  surrendered  Florida  to 
England,  and  then  received  as  a  compensation  from  France  all  of 
her  possessions  on  the  continent  of  North  America  that  did 
not  pass  to  England.  The  grand  result  of  these  changes  was 
that  England  and  Spain  now  divided  North  America,  the  Miss- 
issippi River  being  the  only  definite  boundary  between  them. 
C  We  must  not  allow  our  admiration  of  what  the  French  had 
done  in  the  West  to  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  British  cause 
was  the  cause  of  the  Northwest  and  of  America.  Put  in  the 
broadest  way,  the  question  was,  whether  French  or  English 
ideas  and  tendencies  should  have  sway  in  North  America. 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe  were  both  gallant  soldiers  and  able  com- 
manders ;  both  true  patriots  and  chivalrous  gentlemen ;  but 
they  stood  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham  that  September  day  for 
very  different  things  :  Montcalm  for  the  old  regime,  Wolfe  for 
the  House  of  Commons;  Montcalm  for  the  alliance  of  king, 
and  priest,  Wolfe  for  habeas  corpus  and  free  inquiry  ;  Montcalm 
for  the  past,  Wolfe  for  the  future ;  Montcalm  for  Louis  XV.  and 
Madame  de  Pompadour,  Wolfe  for  George  Washington  and 
Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  his  clear  perception  of  this  point  that 
led  Mr.  John  Fiske  to  say :  "  The  triumph  of  Woife  marks  the 
greatest  turning-point  as  yet  discoverable  in  mode-  n  history." ' 

That  the  war  was  a  war  of  civilizations  becomes  per- 
fectly clear  when  we  consider  the  temper,  culture,  and  aims 
of  the  two  classes  of  colonists.  The  history  of  French  Amer- 
ica is  far  more  picturesque  and  brilliant  than  the  history  of 
British  America  in  the  period  1608-1754.  But  the  English 
were  doing  work  far  more  solid,  valuable,  and  permanent  than 

1  American  Political  Ideas,  56. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   FRANCE.         69 

their  northern  neighbors.  The  French  took  to  the  lakes,  rivers, 
and  forests  ;  they  cultivated  the  Indians  ;  their  explorers  were 
intent  on  discovery,  their  traders  on  furs,  their  missionaries  on 
souls.  The  English  did  not  either  take  to  the  woods  or  culti- 
vate the  Indians  ;  they  loved  agriculture  and  trade,  State  and 
Church,  and  so  clung  to  their  fields,  shops,  politics,  and 
churches.  As  a  result,  while  Canada  languished,  thirteen 
English  states  grew  up  on  the  Atlantic  Plain  modelled  on 
the  Saxon  pattern,  and  became  populous,  rich,  and  strong. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  war  there  were  eighty  thousand 
white  inhabitants  in  New  France,  one  million  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  in  the  British  colonies.  The  disparity 
of  wealth  was  equally  striking.  In  1754  there  was  more 
real  civilization — more  seeds  of  things — in  the  town  of  Bos- 
ton than  in  all  New  France.  In  time,  these  compact  and 
vigorous  British  colonies  offered  effective  resistance  to  Great 
Britain.  It  is  plain  that,  had  they  spread  themselves  out 
over  half  a  continent,  hunted  beaver,  and  trafficked  with  the 
Indians,  after  the  manner  of  the  French,  Independence  would 
have  been  postponed  many  years,  and  possibly  forever.  We 
owe  a  vast  debt  to  the  inherited  character  of  those  English- 
men who  came  to  America  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  no  small  debt  to  the  Appalachian  mountain-wall 
that  confined  them  to  the  narrow  Atlantic  slope  until,  by 
reason  of  compression  and  growth,  they  were  gotten  ready, 
first  to  enter  the  West  in  force,  and  then  to  extort  their  inde- 
x  pendence  from  England. 

But  the  French  and  Indian  War  borrows  its  great  signifi- 
cance from  another  struggle.  It  was  but  the  prelude  to  a 
grander  contest.  "  With  the  triumph  of  Wolfe  on  the 
Heights  of  Abraham,"  writes  Mr.  Green,  "  began  the  history 
of  the  United  States." 1  James  Wolfe's  Highlanders  and 
grenadiers  at  Quebec,  and  not  the  embattled  farmers  at  Lex- 
ington, won  the  first  victory  of  the  American  Revolution. 

1  History  of  the  English  People,  iv.,  193,  194. 


VI. 

THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES  AS  CONSTITUTED 
BY  THE   ROYAL  CHARTERS.— (I.) 

To  encourage  American  plantations,  the  British  Crown 
granted  from  time  to  time  those  charters  that  constitute  the 
first  chapter  of  American  Jurisprudence.  In  bounding  the 
grants  of  land  that  those  charters  conveyed,  the  Crown  was 
governed  neither  by  a  knowledge  of  American  geography  nor 
by  a  legal  principle.  The  most  imaginative  man  alive  could 
not  bound  his  estates  in  Spain  with  greater  disregard  of  Span- 
ish geography  and  Spanish  law.  The  grants  overlapped  and 
conflicted  with  one  another  in  a  way  that  was  then  most 
troublesome  to  colonists  and  proprietors,  and  that  is  now 
most  exasperating  to  students  of  history.  Five  causes  will 
explain  these  conflictions :  (i)  Gross  ignorance  of  American 
geography ;  (2)  the  great  size  of  the  early  grants ;  (3)  the 
surrender  or  vacation  of  charters ;  (4)  the  influence  of  favor- 
ites praying  for  grants  to  themselves  or  their  friends  ;  (5)  the 
royal  prerogative.  I  shall  transcribe  the  boundary  descriptions 
found  in  the  principal  charters,  and  show  how  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  took  shape  under  them.1 

The  charter  given  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  1584  granted 

1  The  texts  found  in  Poore's  Charters  and  Constitutions  of  the  United 
States  will  be  followed.  In  preparing  this  chapter  and  the  next  one  the 
author  has  received  great  assistance  from  "  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Geologi- 
cal Survey,  No.  13  :  Boundaries  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Several  States 
and  Territories,  with  an  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Territorial  Changes,"  by  Henry 
Gannett,  Chief  Geographer. 


THE  THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  71 

to  that  "  trusty  and  well-beloved  servant "  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, his  heirs  and  assigns  forever — 

"  free  libertie  and  licence  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  for- 
euer  hereafter,  to  discouer,  search,  finde  out,  and  view  such  re- 
mote heathen  and  barbarous  lands,  counteries,  and  territories, 
not  actually  possessed  of  any  Christian  Prince  nor  inhabited  by 
Christian  People,  as  to  him,  his  heir'es  and  assignes,  and  to  euery 
or  any  of  them,  shall  seeme  good,  and  the  same  to  haue,  holde, 
occupie,  and  enjoy  to  him,  his  heiresand  assignes,  foreuer,  with 
all  prerogatiues,  commodities,  jurisdictions,  royalties,  priuileges, 
franchises,  and  preheminences,  thereto  or  thereabouts  both  by 
sea  and  land,  whatsoeuer  we  by  our  letters  patents  may  graunt, 
and  as  we  or  any  of  our  noble  progenitors  haue  heretofore 
graunted  to  any  person  or  persons,  bodies  politique  or  corpo- 
rate." 

The  charter  further  forbade  any  person  or  persons  whatso- 
ever inhabiting  or  attempting  to  inhabit  the  same  countries 
coming  within  two  hundred  leagues  of  the  place  or  places 
where  Raleigh,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  or  his  or  their  associates 
in  any  company,  should,  within  six  years  ensuing,  make  their 
dwellings  or  abidings,  without  his  or  their  consent ;  and  it 
authorized  and  instructed  him  or  them  to  encounter  and  ex- 
pulse,  to  repel  and  resist,  as  well  by  sea  as  by  land,  all  who 
should  attempt  to  do  so.  Raleigh's  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
plant  under  this  charter  are  among  the  chivalrous  and  pathetic 
stories  of  early  American  adventure. 

While  it  was  well  understood  that  Raleigh  was  to  plant  in 
the  queen's  American  possessions,  the  name  America  does 
not  occur  in  the  document.  He  was  not  to  go  into  lands 
actually  possessed  by  any  Christian  prince  nor  inhabited  by 
Christian  people,  but  that  was  the  only  limitation.  It  is  plain 
that  her  dominions  on  this  continent  lay  before  Elizabeth's 
eyes  an  undifferentiated  mass  without  assigned  metes  and 
bounds,  and  that  other  grants  or  colonies  were  not  then 
contemplated.  As  those  dominions  then  had  no  distinctive 


?2  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

name,  Raleigh  proposed  Virginia,  and  Elizabeth,  who  was 
fond  of  being  called  "  the  Virgin  Queen,"  approved  the  sug- 
gestion. 

In  1606  James  I.  "vouchsafed"  to  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir 
George  Somers,  and  divers  others  of  his  loving  subjects  who 
had  ^been  suitors  unto  him — 

"  Licence  to  make  Habitation,  Plantation,  and  to  deduce  a 
colony  of  sundry  of  our  People  into  that  part  of  America  com- 
monly called  Virginia,  and  other  parts  and  Territories  in  Amer- 
ica, either  appertaining  unto  us,  or  which  are  not  now  actually 
possessed  by  any  Christian  Prince  or  People,  situate,  lying,  and 
being  all  along  the  Sea-Coasts  between  four-and-thirty  degrees 
of  Northerly  latitude  from  the  Equinoctial  Line  and  five-and- 
forty  Degrees  of  the  same  Latitude,  and  in  the  main  Land  be- 
tween the  same  four-and-thirty  and  five-and-forty  Degrees,  and 
the  Islands  thereunto  adjacent,  or  within  one  hundred  Miles  of 
the  Coast  thereof." 

The  charter  then  provided  for  two  companies,  the  first 
called  the  London  Company  and  the  second  the  Plymouth 
Company.  The  London  Company  should  make  their  first 
plantation  at  any  place  upon  the  said  coast  of  Virginia  or 
America  where  they  should  think  fit  and  convenient,  between 
the  said  four-and-thirty  and  one-and-forty  degrees  of  the  said 
latitude,  and  the  Plymouth  Company  should  begin  their 
plantation  at  any  place  on  the  said  coast  of  Virginia  and 
America  where  they  should  think  fit  and  convenient,  be- 
tween eight-and-thirty  degrees  and  five-and-forty  degrees 
of  the  same  latitude.  Each  colony  should  have  all  lands, 
soils,  etc.,  from  its  first  seat  of  plantation,  by  the  space  of  fifty 
English  statute  miles,  all  along  the  coast  toward  the  west  and 
southwest  as  the  coast  lies  ;  also  all  the  lands,  etc.,  along  the 
coast  to  the  north,  northeast,  or  east  for  the  space  of  fifty 
miles ;  all  the  islands  within  one  hundred  miles  directly  over 
and  against  the  sea-coast,  and  also  all  the  lands  from  the  same 


THE  THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  73 

fifty  miles  every  way  on  the  sea-coast,  directly  into  the  main- 
land one  hundred  miles.  The  charter  further  provided  that 
no  other  of  the  king's  subjects  should  be  permitted  to  plant 
or  inhabit  behind  them  toward  the  mainland  without  the  ex- 
press license  or  consent  of  the  council  of  the  colony  affected 
or  interested  first  obtained  in  writing.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  two  zones  within  which  the  two  companies  might  plant 
their  colonies  overlapped  three  degrees  of  latitude.  Colli- 
sions were,  however,  guarded  against  by  a  provision  that 
neither  company  should  make  a  settlement  within  one  hun- 
dred miles  of  one  already  made  by  the  other. 

The  charter  of  1606  marks  a  decided  step  toward  geo- 
graphical precision  and  definiteness.  The  settlements  are  to 
be  made  on  the  coasts  of  Virginia  and  America,  within  parallels 
34°  and  45°  north  latitude,  which  lines,  falling  as  far  apart  as 
the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River  and  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Croix,  comprehended  the  larger  part  of  King  James's  American 
possessions.  Two  colonies  were  provided  for.  Evidently 
that  process  of  evolution  had  begun  which  led  to  the  north- 
ern and  southern  groups  of  colonies. 

The  settlement  at  Jamestown  was  made  under  this  char- 
ter. But  as  it  did  not  prove  satisfactory,  the  king,  in  1609, 
granted  the  London  Company  a  second  charter,  in  which  he 
bounded  the  colony  that  henceforth  monopolized  the  name 
Virginia  as  follows : 

"...  Situate,  lying,  and  being  in  that  Part  of  America 
called  Virginia,  from  the  Point  of  Land  called  Cape  or  Point 
Comfort,  all  along  the  Sea-Coast  to  the  Northward  two  hundred 
miles,  and  from  the  said  Point  of  Cape  Comfort  all  along  the  Sea- 
Coast  to  the  Southward  two  hundred  Miles,  and  all  that  Space 
and  Circuit  of  Land  lying  from  the  Sea-Coast  of  the  Precinct 
aforesaid  up  into  the  Land  throughout  from  Sea  to  Sea,  West 
and  Northwest,  And  also  all  the  Islands  lying  within  one  hun- 
dred Miles  along  the  Coast  of  both  Seas  of  the  Precinct  afore- 
said. .  " 


74  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

This  was  the  first  of  the  "  from  sea  to  sea"  boundaries 
that  play  so  important  a  part  in  history.  The  description 
"up  into  the  land  throughout  from  sea  to  sea,  west  and 
northwest,"  led  to  important  results,  the  least  of  which  is 
the  interminable  discussion  of  what  it  meant.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  it  meant  a  compound  boundary  line  run- 
ning from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  around  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
again ;  but  the  islands  within  one  hundred  miles  along  the 
coast  of  "  both  seas  "  are  given  to  Virginia,  and  this  fact  is 
fatal  to  such  a  construction.  Historians  commonly  assume 
that  the  northern  and  southern  lines  of  the  colony  were  in- 
tended to  be  due  east  and  west  lines,  and  much  can  be  said 
in  support  of  this  view.  The  lines  drawn  by  the  charter  of 
1606  were  east  and  west  lines.  The  royal  intent  in  1606-09 
and  1620  was  two  colonies ;  Virginia  and  New  England 
were  evidently  to  embrace  all  the  king's  possessions  from  lati- 
tude 34°  north  to  the  French  territories.  The  ocean  front 
now  given  to  Virginia  carries  the  colony  to  the  fortieth  de- 
gree. And,  finally,  the  charter  of  1620  bounded  New  Eng- 
land on  the  south  by  that  parallel.  But  the  king's  language 
describes  one  west  and  one  northwest  line.  If  this  view 
be  assumed,  the  description  is  still  open  to  two  constructions 
that  assign  to  Virginia  very  different  limits.  If  the  construc- 
tion represented  in  the  following  diagram  be  taken,  the 
colony  would  be  a  triangle  of  very  moderate  size. 


w. 

Northern  Point. 


Point  Comfort. 


Southern  Point. 


But  if  the  following  be  the  true  construction,  the  colony 
would  be  a  vast  trapezoid,  six  degrees  of  latitude  in  width  on 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  75 

the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  from  twenty  to  thirty  degrees  on  the 
Pacific. 


Northern  Point. 

1 

Point  Comfort. 

West  Line. 

Southern  Point. 

If  the  theory  of  one  west  and  one  northwest  line  be 
adopted,  only  the  second  of  these  constructions  will  fill  the 
condition  "  from  sea  to  sea."  As  this  was  the  construction 
adopted  by  Virginia,  and  as  it  materially  influenced  Western 
history,  I  shall  assume  that  such  is  the  meaning  of  the  lan- 
guage. 

The  Plymouth  Company  was  overshadowed  by  its  richer 
and  stronger  rival.  Only  one  attempt  at  colonization  was 
made  by  its  authority  under  the  charter  of  1606,  and  that 
ended  in  failure.  But  a  new  charter  was  obtained  in  1620, 
under  which  the  company  became  more  active.  This  was 
the  second  of  the  two  charters  into  which  that  of  1606  was 
merged.  It  absolutely  gave,  granted,  and  confirmed  unto  the 
council  established  at  Plymouth,  in  the  County  of  Devon,  Eng- 
land, for  the  planting,  ruling,  and  governing  of  the  northern 
parts  of  Virginia  in  America,  a  territory  that  is  thus  bounded  : 

"  That  aforesaid  Part  of  America  lying  and  being  in  Breadth 
from  fforty  Degrees  of  Northerly  Latitude  from  the  Equinoctiall 
Line  to  fforty-eight  Degrees  of  the  said  Northerly  Latitude  inclu- 
sively, and  in  Length  of,  and  within  all  the  Breadth  aforesaid, 
throughout  all  the  Maine  Lands  from  Sea  to  Sea  .  .  .  and 
also  within  the  said  Islands  and  Seas  adjoining,  Provided  always, 


76  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

that  the  said  Islands,  or  any  of  the  Premises  hereinbefore  men- 
tioned, and  by  these  Presents  intended  and  meant  to  be  granted, 
be  not  actually  possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other  Christian 
Prince  or  Estate,  nor  to  be  within  the  Bounds,  Limitts,  or  Terri- 
toryes  of  that  Southern  Collony  heretofore  by  us  granted  to  be 
planted  by  divers  of  our  loving  Subjects  in  the  South  Part,  etc." 

The  king  also  declared  it  to  be  his  will  and  pleasure,  to 
the  end  that  the  said  territory  should  be  more  certainly 
known  and  distinguished,  that  the  same  should  henceforth  be 
called  by  the  name  of  New  England  in  America.  This  grant 
covered  eight  degrees  of  latitude.  Fully  one-half  of  the  terri- 
tory that  it  embraced  on  the  coast  was  at  the  time  claimed 
by  the  French ;  in  fact,  the  whole  of  it  was  covered  by  the 
Acadia  charter  of  1603,  and  much  of  it  remained  in  French 
hands  until  they  retired  from  the  continent  in  1763. 

Why  James  I.  bounded  the  grants  of  1609  and  1620  on 
the  west  by  the  South  Sea,  is  a  question  asked  early  and 
often.  The  common  answer  is  found  in  the  mistaken  ideas 
of  American  geography  then  current.  "  How  natural  the 
'  from  sea  to  sea '  lines,"  it  is  said,  "  to  those  who  thought  that 
at  most  they  would  be  but  a  few  hundred  miles  in  length ! 
How  preposterous  if  the  width  of  the  continent  had  been 
known  !  "  But  it  is  not  certain  that  this  is  the  true  explanation. 
England  claimed  not  only  the  coast  that  the  Cabots  had 
discovered,  but  all  the  lands  lying  beyond  that  coast.  Virtu- 
ally she  strove  to  incorporate  into  the  public  law  of  Europe 
a  rule  in  conformity  with  this  claim.  She  ultimately  failed 
in  both  these  efforts,  owing  to  the  resistance  of  France  and 
Spain  ;  but  at  the  time  when  these  charters  were  given  she 
was  upholding  both  stoutly,  and  was  ready  to  do  anything 
that  would  strengthen  her  position.  To  include  the  whole 
breadth  of  the  continent  within  colonial  boundary  lines  might 
give  a  faint  color  of  occupancy  to  her  claim ;  moreover,  the 
charters  of  1606,  1609,  and  1620  all  prove  that,  to  the  royal 
mind,  as  well  as  to  the  companies  that  proposed  to  plant, 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  77 

great  territorial  limits  were  essential  to  colonies.  Professor 
Alexander  Johnston  denies  in  toto  "  that  the  Crown  made  the 
Connecticut  grant  under  ignorance,  supposing  that  North 
America  was  far  narrower  than  it  proved  to  be."  "  The 
Plymouth  Council,  when  it  gave  up  its  charter  in  1635,  noti- 
fied the  king,"  he  says,  "  that  this  grant  was  through  all  the 
main-land  from  sea  to  sea,  being  near  about  three  thousand 
miles  in  length  ;  "  and  he  adds  that  ever}'1  geographer  in  Eng- 
land knew  such  to  be  the  length  of  the  Connecticut  grant.1  It 
is  easy  to  make  too  much  of  the  geographical  information  im- 
parted to  the  royal  mind  by  the  Plymouth  Council.  No 
doubt  some  men  in  England  had  correct  views  on  this  point 
in  1662  ;  but  the  Virginia  and  Maryland  maps  of  165 1  and 
1670,  described  in  a  former  chapter,  and  similar  contemporary 
facts,  discredit  the  strong  language  used  by  Mr.  Johnston. 
The  fact  is,  the  early  erroneous  views  of  North  American 
geography  gave  place  very  slowly  to  correct  views.  The  mag- 
nificent distances  of  the  New  World  were  not  grasped  by 
James  I.  and  his  contemporaries  as  realities ;  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  king  or  his  counsellors  really  un- 
derstood that  the  New  England  of  1620  embraced  as  many 
degrees  of  longitude  as  lie  between  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates. 

Sandys  and  Southampton  did  not  administer  the  London 
Company  in  a  manner  to  please  the  mean  and  narrow  mind 
of  James  I.  The  king  caused  legal  proceedings  against  the 
company  to  be  instituted,  and  in  1624  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  by  a  writ  of  quo  warranto,  vacated  the  charter.  There- 
after, as  long  as  Virginia  continued  a  British  colony,  her 
governors  held  their  commissions  from  the  Crown.  The 
question  as  to  the  effect  of  this  quo  warranto  on  the  territorial 
limits  of  the  colony  has  often  been  asked  and  never  satisfac- 
torily answered.  The  king  had  granted  the  northern  half  of 
his  American  claim,  from  sea  to  sea,  to  the  Plymouth  Com- 

1  Connecticut,  in  Commonwealth  Series,  281. 


78  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

pany,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  writ  was  in- 
tended to  affect  the  limits  of  the  colony,  or  to  derange  the 
king's  dual  plan  of  colonization. 

Passing  the  grant  to  Sir  Robert  Heath,  which  did  not 
lead  to  permanent  plantations,  the  first  invasion  of  Virginia, 
as  bounded  in  1609,  was  on  the  north. 

In  1632  Charles  I.  granted  to  Lord  Baltimore  the  prov- 
ince that  the  king,  in  honor  of  his  queen,  Henrietta  Maria, 
called  Maryland.  These  are  the  boundaries : 

"All  that  part  of  the  Peninsula  or  Chersonese,  lying  in  parts 
of  America,  between  the  ocean  on  the  east  and  the  Bay  of 
Chesapeake  on  the  west ;  divided  from  the  residue  thereof  by 
a  right  line  drawn  from  the  promontory  or  headland  called 
Watkins's  Point,  situate  upon  the  bay  aforesaid,  near  the  River 
Wighco  on  the  west  unto  the  main  ocean  on  the  east,  and  be- 
tween that  boundary  on  the  south  unto  that  part  of  the  Bay  of 
Delaware  on  the  north,  which  lieth  under  the  fortieth  degree 
of  north  latitude  from  the  equinoctial,  where  New  England  is 
terminated  ;  and  all  the  tract  of  that  land  within  the  metes 
underwritten  (that  is  to  say),  passing  from  the  said  bay,  called 
Delaware  Bay,  in  a  right  line,  by  the  degree  aforesaid,  unto  the 
true  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of  the  River  Potomac ; 
thence  verging  toward  the  south  unto  the  farther  bank  of  the 
said  river,  and  following  the  same  on  the  west  and  south  unto 
a  certain  place  called  Cinquack,  situate  near  the  mouth  of  said 
river,  where  it  disembogues  into  the  aforesaid  Bay  of  Chesa- 
peake, and  thence  by  the  shortest  line  unto  the  aforesaid  prom- 
ontory or  place  called  Watkins's  Point,  so  that  the  whole  tract 
of  land  divided  by  the  line  aforesaid,  between  the  main  ocean 
and  Watkins  Point  unto  the  promontory  called  Cape  Charles, 
may  entirely  remain  forever  excepted  to  us.  .  .  ." 

Virginia  bitterly  resisted  this  grant  as  an  invasion  of  her 
jurisdiction,  and  she  finally  acknowledged  Maryland  as  a  sis- 
ter colony,  only  because  she  had  no  alternative.  Virginia's 
composure  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ruffled  by  the  grant  to 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  79 

Sir  Robert  Heath  three  years  before ;  but  the  Virginia  of 
1632,  like  the  Virginia  of  1887,  was  comparatively  isolated 
from  the  coast  to  the  south,  while  the  multitude  of  waters 
that  mingle  in  the  mouth  of  the  great  bay  and  flow  out  to- 
gether through  the  Capes  invited  her  to  follow  them  to  their 
northern  and  northwestern  sources.  Moreover,  the  Virgin- 
ians called  Maryland  a  "  papist  "  settlement ;  and  they  cov- 
eted the  commercial  privileges  that  the  Marylanders  en- 
joyed and  they  did  not.  But  Virginia  finally  gave  up  fur- 
ther resistance,  and  entered  on  a  discussion  of  boundary  lines. 
Successively  there  arose  two  main  points  of  dispute  with 
Maryland,  only  one  of  which  need  be  noticed  here. 

In  1649  Charles  II.  granted  to  Lord  Hopton  the  tract 
bounded  by  and  within  the  heads  of  the  Rappahannock  and 
Potomac  Rivers;  in  1689  James  II.  confirmed  this  grant  to 
Lord  Culpepper,  to  whom  it  had  passed  by  sale  and  purchase, 
and  on  Culpepper's  death  it  descended  to  his  son-in-law,  Lord 
Fairfax.  The  grant  was  of  the  soil  merely,  and  left  the  juris- 
diction in  Virginia,  as  before.  Nothing  in  the  whole  history 
of  royal  patents  and  charters  is  more  absurd  and  tyrannical 
than  this  grant,  for  at  the  time  it  was  originally  made  Charles  I. 
had  just  been  executed,  and  Charles  II.  was  a  fugitive.  But 
in  time  the  question  arose  whether  the  southern  or  the  north- 
ern branch  of  the  Potomac  was  the  proper  boundary  between 
Virginia  and  Maryland.  The  answer  to  that  question  de- 
pended upon  the  answer  to  another  one,  viz.,  whether  the 
first  fountain  or  westernmost  source  of  the  Potomac  was  on 
the  one  branch  or  the  other,  which  was  at  the  time  unknown. 
It  suited  Lord  Fairfax  to  claim  the  northern  branch,  since 
that  would  give  the  greater  extent  to  the  Hopton  grant ;  but 
Maryland  contended  for  the  southern  branch,  on  which  the 
first  fountain  is  really  found.  Virginia  had  an  obvious  motive 
for  taking  the  same  view  of  the  matter  as  Fairfax.  In  1736  a 
commission  appointed  by  the  Crown  and  Fairfax  surveyed  a 
line  from  the  Rappahannock  to  the  Potomac;  in  1745  the 
king  confirmed  this  line ;  and  in  1746  a  second  commission 


80  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

planted  the  "  Fairfax  stone  "  in  conformity  with  the  Virginia 
view.  Maryland  was  not  consulted  in  the  matter;  but  the 
"Fairfax  stone,"  although  Virginia,  in  1776,  relinquished  to 
the  adjacent  States  all  the  territories  covered  by  their  charters 
that  had  once  belonged  to  her,  has  remained  the  southern  ex- 
treme of  the  boundary  line  between  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
from  the  Potomac  to  Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 

The  boundary  descriptions  of  the  three  more  southern 
States  will  be  given  without  particular  discussion. 

In  1663  Charles  II.  thus  bounded  the  grant  to  the  Caro- 
lina proprietors : 

.  .  .  "  All  that  territory  or  tract  of  ground  situate,  lying, 
and  being  within  our  dominions  of  America,  extending  from  the 
north  end  of  the  island  called  Lucke  Island,  which  lieth  in  the 
Southern  Virginia  seas,  and  within  six-and-thirty  degrees  of 
the  northern  latitude,  and  to  the  west  as  far  as  the  south  seas, 
and  so  southerly  as  far  as  the  River  Saint  Matthias,  which  bor- 
dereth  upon  the  coast  of  Florida,  and  within  one-and-thirty  de- 
grees of  northern  latitude,  and  so  west  in  a  direct  line  as  far  as 
the  south  seas  aforesaid."  .  .  . 

Two  years  later  this  grant  was  enlarged  as  follows : 

.  .  .  "  All  that  province,  territory,  or  tract  of  land  situate, 
lying  or  being  in  our  dominions  of  America,  aforesaid,  extend- 
ing north  and  eastward  as  far  as  the  north  end  of  Currijuck 
river  or  inlet,  upon  a  strait  westerly  line  to  Wyonoak  Creek, 
which  lies  within  or  about  the  degrees  of  thirty-six  and  thirty 
minutes,  northern  latitude,  and  so  west  in  a  direct  line  as  far  as 
the  South  Seas  ;  and  south  and  westward  as  far  as  the  degree 
of  twenty-nine,  inclusive  of  northern  latitude  ;  and  so  west  in  a 
direct  line  as  far  as  the  south  sea."  .  .  . 

The  Carolina  charter  of  1665  gave  to  history  a  memorable 
line.  The  parallel  of  36°  30'  is  the  boundary  of  six  States, 
but  its  historical  consequence  arises  more  from  the  fact  that 
the  compromise  of  1820  made  it  the  boundary  between  slavery 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  8l 

and  freedom  beyond  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri.  Out 
of  the  Carolina  grant  two  colonies  were  eventually  made. 
The  Revised  Statutes  of  North  Carolina  define  the  boundary 
between  them  as  a  line  running  northwest  from  Goat  Island 
on  the  west,  in  latitude  33°  56',  to  parallel  35°,  and  thence 
along  that  parallel  to  Tennessee. 

An  independent  plantation  in  South  Carolina  had  been 
mooted  as  early  as  1717,  and  in  1732  James  Oglethorpe  re- 
newed the  proposition,  and  proposed  to  make  the  new  colony 
a  home  and  refuge  for  debtors  in  England  who  were  unable 
to  discharge  their  indebtedness,  and  for  Protestants  on  the 
Continent  who  were  persecuted  for  religion's  sake.  The  plan 
pleased  the  king,  and  he  granted  to  a  corporation  consisting 
of  Oglethorpe  and  others  a  tract  of  country  "  in  trust  for  the 
poor  "  that  he  thus  bounded  : 

"All  those  lands,  countries,  and  territories  situate,  lying,  and 
being  in  that  part  of  South  Carolina,  in  America,  which  lies 
from  the  most  northern  part  of  a  stream  or  river  there,  commonly 
called  the  Savannah,  all  along  the  sea-coast  to  the  southward, 
unto  the  most  southern  stream  of  a  certain  other  great  water  or 
river  called  the  Altamaha,  and  westerly  from  the  heads  of  the 
said  rivers,  respectively,  in  direct  lines  to  the  south  seas." 

The  royal  proclamation  of  1763,  which  will  be  fully  noticed 
in  a  future  chapter,  made  some  new  territorial  arrangements 
in  the  Gulf  region.  The  lands  lying  between  the  rivers  Alta- 
maha and  St.  Marys  were  annexed  to  Georgia.  The  southern 
boundary  of  that  province  now  became  the  St.  Marys  and  a 
straight  line  drawn  from  the  source  of  that  river  to  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Flint  and  Chattahoochee ;  and  such  has  been 
its  southern  boundary  until  the  present  time.  The  grant 
made  to  the  Georgia  trustees  in  1732  had  bounded  South 
Carolina  on  the  southwest  by  the  Savannah. 

The  charter  of  1620  imparted  some  new  life  to  the  Plym- 
outh Company,  but  it  was  never  a  vigorous  corporation. 
However,  both  the  company  and  the  Crown  at  once  began 
6 


82  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

to  exploit  the  New  England  soil.  No  other  part  of  the  At- 
lantic coast  is  geographically  so  complex  and  intricate,  and 
for  this  or  some  other  reason  its  territorial  history  is  more 
difficult  than  any  other  to  trace  out.  The  course  of  the  com- 
pany and  king  alike  has  been  described  as  but  a  course  of 
confusion.  Minutely  to  follow  their  work  would  require  the 
skill  of  a  trained  lawyer  in  addition  to  the  learning  of  an 
accomplished  geographer  and  historian.  Nothing  beyond  the 
outlines  will  here  be  attempted. 

In  1621  the  Council  for  New  England,  by  direction  of 
James  I.,  issued  a  patent  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  Earl  of 
Stirling,  conveying  to  him  the  region  bounded  by  the  St.  Law- 
rence, the  Ocean,  and  the  St.  Croix,  styled  "  the  Lordship  and 
Barony  of  New  Scotland."  This  grant  was  confirmed  to  the 
Earl  by  a  royal  charter  of  September  loth,  the  same  year.  The 
Earl  was  still  further  favored,  for  by  a  patent  dated  April  22, 
1635,  the  council,  this  time  by  the  direction  of  Charles  I., 
gave  him  a  "  tract  of  the  main  land  of  New  England,  begin- 
ning at  St.  Croix,  and  from  thence  extending  along  the  sea- 
coast  to  Pemaquid  and  the  River  Kennebeck,"  together  with 
Long  Island  and  all  the  islands  thereto  adjacent.1  In  1663 
the  heirs  of  the  Earl  sold  this  grant  between  the  Kennebec 
and  the  St.  Croix  to  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  from  whom  it 
immediately  passed  to  the  Duke  of  York. 

The  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth  late  in  the  year  1620, 
without  any  authority  whatever;  but  June  I,  1621, the  Coun- 
cil for  New  England  granted  them  a  "  roving  patent,"  which 
assigned  them  no  boundaries  or  settled  place  of  habitation,  but 
allowed  one  hundred  acres  of  land  to  be  taken  up  for  every 
emigrant,  with  fifteen  hundred  acres  for  public  buildings,  and 
also  empowered  the  grantees  to  make  laws  and  to  set  up  a 
government.  This  patent  was  issued  in  the  name  of  John 
Pierce  and  certain  other  London  merchants  who  had  given 

o 

the  Pilgrims  some  financial  assistance.     In  1628  the  council 
1  Vindication,  etc.,  of  Alexander,  Earl  of  Stirling,  34. 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  83 

gave  Plymouth  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Kennebec  River,  and 
the  year  following  it  gave  them  a  new  patent,  much  more 
favorable  than  the  one  given  in  Pierce's  name  in  1621.  The 
colony  was  now  bounded  west  by  a  line  drawn  northerly  from 
the  mouth  of  Narragansett  River,  and  on  the  north  by  a  line 
drawn  westerly  from  Cohasset  Rivulet.  The  grant  on  the 
Kennebec  made  the  previous  year  was  included.  The  Plym- 
outh people  made  repeated  attempts  to  obtain  a  carter  from 
the  Crown,  which  alone  could  confer  prerogatives  of  govern- 
ment, but  these  attempts  were  neve^successful. 

In  1628  the  Council  at  Plymouth  made  to  Sir  Henry  Ros- 
well  and  others  his  associates  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony  an  important  grant,  which  was  confirmed  by  Charles 
I.,  with  powers  of  government,  March  4,  1629.  These  are  the 
boundaries  of  Massachusetts  as  defined  by  the  Crown : 

.  .  .  "  All  that  Parte  of  Newe  England  in  Amirica  which 
lyes  and  extendes  betweene  a  great  River  there,  coriionlie  called 
Monomack  River,  alias  Merrimack  River,  and  a  certen  other 
River  there  called  Charles  River,  being  in  the  Bottome  of  a 
certen  Bay  there,  comonlie  'called  Massachusetts,  alias  Matta- 
chusetts,  alias  Massatusetts  Bay,  and  also  all  and  singuler 
those  Landes  and  Hereditaments  whatsoever,  lying  within  the 
Space  of  Three  Englishe  Myles  on  the  South  Parte  of  the  said 
River  called  Charles  River,  or  of  any  or  every  Parte  thereof. 
And  also  all  and  singuler  the  Landes  and  Hereditaments  what- 
soever, lying  and  being  within  the  space  of  Three  Englishe  Miles 
to  the  southward  of  the  southermost  Parte  of  the  said  Baye, 
called  Massachusetts,  alias  Mattachusetts,  alias  Massatusetts 
Bay:  And  also  all  those  Landes  and  Hereditaments  whatsoever, 
which  lye  and  be  within  the  space  of  Three  English  Myles  to 
the  Northward  of  the  saide  River,  called  Monomack,  alias  Mer- 
rymack,  or  to  the  Norward  of  any  and  every  Parte  thereof  and 
all  Landes  and  Hereditaments  whatsoever,  lyeing  within  the 
Lymitts  aforesaide,  North  and  South,  in  Latitude  and  Bredth, 
and  in  Length  and  Longitude,  of  and  within  all  the  Bredth 
aforesaide,  throughout  the  Mayne  Landes  there  from  the  Atlan- 


84  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tick  and  Westerne  Sea  and  Ocean  on  the  East  Parte,  to  the 
South  Sea  on  the  West  Parte. 

.  .  .  "  Provided  alwayes,  That  yf  the  said  Landes  .  .  . 
were  [on  November  3,  1620]  actuallie  possessed  or  inhabited  by 
any  other  Christian  Prince  or  State,  or  were  within  the  Boundes, 
Lymytts  or  Territories  of  that  Southerne  Colony,  then  before 
graunted  by  our  saide  late  Father  .  .  .  then  this  present 
Graunt  shall  not  extend  to  any  such  partes  or  parcells  thereof." 

The  attempt  to  unify  and  harmonize  the  Northern  New 
England  patents  and  charters,  real  and  pretended,  is  next  door 
to  a  hopeless  undertaking.  I  shall  content  myself  with  stat- 
ing the  facts  material  to  the  present  purpose.  On  November 
7,  1629,  the  Plymouth  Council  made  to  Captain  John  Mason, 
one  of  the  principal  adventurers  in  the  company,  a  grant 
that,  as  reaffirmed  in  1635,  was  thus  bounded : 

"All  that  part  of  the  Mayn  Land  of  New  England  aforesaid, 
beginning  from  the  middle  part  of  Naumkeck  River,  and  from 
thence  to  proceed  eastwards  along  the  Sea  Coast  to  Cape  Anne, 
and  round  about  the  same  to  Pischatavvay  Harbour,  and  soe 
forwards  vp  within  the  river  Newgewanacke,  and  to  the  fur- 
thest head  of  the  said  River  and  from  thence  northwestwards 
till  sixty  miles  bee  finished,  from  the  first  entrance  of  Pischat- 
aqay  Harbor,  and  alsoe  from  Naumkecke  through  the  River 
thereof  vp  into  the  land  west  sixty  miles,  from  which  period 
to  cross  over  land  to  the  sixty  miles  end,  accompted  from 
Pischataway,  through  Newgewanacke  River  to  the  land  north- 
west aforesaid  ;  and  alsoe  all  that  the  South  Halfe  of  the  Ysles 
of  Sholes,  all  which  lands,  with  the  Consent  of  the  Counsell, 
shall  from  henceforth  be  called  New-hampshyre.  And  alsoe 
ten  thousand  acres  more  of  land  ...  on  the  southeast  part 
of  Sagadihoc,  at  the  mouth  or  entrance  thereof,  from  hence- 
forth to  bee  called  by  the  name  of  Massonia,  etc."  .  .  . 

There  were  earlier  grants  within  the  present  limits  of  New 
Hampshire,  but  this  one  may  be  considered  the  origin  of  that 
commonwealth.  It  never  had  a  royal  charter,  but  the  com- 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  8$ 

mission  of  1680  to  the  governor  had  much  the  same  effect. 
The  feeble  settlements  within  the  limits  of  Mason's  grant 
were  annexed  to  Massachusetts  in  1641;  they  became  a  royal 
colony  in  1680;  they  became  a  second  time  a  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1690,  but  were  again  separated  in  1692,  from 
which  time  New  Hampshire  has  had  an  independent  exist- 
ence. 

In  1635  the  Council  at  Plymouth  renounced  to  the  Crown 
their  charter,  first,  however,  dividing  into  eight  shares,  which 
they  distributed  among  themselves,  the  territory  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  ordered  when  this  partition  was  made  that  all 
persons  having  lawful  grants  of  land,  or  having  made  lawfully 
settled  plantations,  should  enjoy  the  same  on  their  surrendering 
their  rights  of  jurisdiction  (jura  regalia)  to  the  proprietor  to 
whom  the  division  fell.  The  grant  of  1620  was  from  sea  to  sea, 
but  this  partition  extended  inland  only  sixty  miles,  save  in  one 
or  two  cases  that  reached  twice  that  distance.  It  was  intended 
to  procure  confirmations  of  these  grants  under  the  great  seal, 
but  this  appears  to  have  been  done  only  in  the  case  of  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges's  portion,  lying  between  the  Piscataqua 
and  Kennebec  rivers,  confirmed  to  him  by  royal  charter  in 
1639.  This  was  "  the  province  or  county  of  Maine."  The 
grant  led  to  serious  disputes  with  holders  under  earlier  grants. 
Massachusetts  claimed  the  whole  district  because  it  lies  south 
of  a  due  east  and  west  line  drawn  three  miles  north  of  the 
lake  in  which  the  Merrimac  has  its  rise,  and  she  finally 
bought  the  Gorges  title  for  ^"1,250. 

The  Massachusetts  charter  of  1629  was  cancelled  by  the 
High  Court  of  Chancery  in  1684.  Four  years  later  the  Stuarts 
were  expelled  the  throne,  and  were  succeeded  by  William  and 
Mary.  The  new  sovereigns  favored  a  policy  of  colonial  con- 
solidation. Accordingly,  November  7,  1691,  they  granted  to 
Massachusetts  Bay  a  new  charter  which  brought  together 
under  its  jurisdiction  all  the  colonies  of  Central  and  Northern 
New  England,  viz. :  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Maine,  includ- 
ing the  grant  between  the  St.  Croix  and  the  Kennebec  made 


86  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

to  Earl  Stirling,  and  Nova  Scotia.  Maine,  henceforth  con- 
sisting of  the  original  grants  to  Alexander  west  of  the  St. 
Croix,  to  Gorges,  and  to  Plymouth,  remained  a  part  of  Mas- 
sachusetts until  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  State  in  1820. 
Plymouth  remained  permanently  connected  with  the  younger 
and  stronger  colony  at  the  north,  and  thus  brought  Massa- 
chusetts down  to  the  sea  in  the  southeast. 

When  New  Hampshire's  dependence  upon  Massachusetts 
came  to  an  end  in  1692,  the  territorial  strifes  of  the  two  colo- 
nies began.  New  Hampshire  cut  Massachusetts,  as  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  St.  Croix,  in  two  ;  so  there  were  bounda- 
ries to  be  drawn  on  the  east  and  on  the  south.  Commissioners 
appointed  by  the  two  colonies  failing  to  agree,  these  bounda- 
ries were  referred,  by  the  king's  order,  to  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  neighboring  colonies.  The  report  of  this 
board,  confirmed  by  the  king  in  1740,  and  acquiesced  in  by 
Massachusetts,  drew  the  eastern  line  practically  where  it  is  to- 
day. On  the  south,  the  report  was  less  favorable  to  Massachu- 
setts. The  charter  of  1629  gave  her  all  the  lands  lying  within 
the  space  of  three  English  miles  to  the  northward  of  the 
River  Merrimac  and  of  every  part  thereof;  the  charter  of  1635 
made  the  southern  boundary  of  New  Hampshire  on  the  coast, 
the  Naumkeck  River,  at  Salem.  The  charter  of  1691  reaf- 
firmed the  boundary  of  1629.  Massachusetts  insisted,  there- 
fore, that  her  proper  northern  bonndary  was  a  due  east  and 
west  line  running  through  a  point  three  miles  north  of  the 
inflow  of  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  which  would  have  blotted 
New  Hampshire  from  the  map.  New  Hampshire  contended 
that  her  southern  boundary  was  a  latitudinal  line  running 
through  a  point  three  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Merri- 
mac. The  report  that  the  king  confirmed  gave  New  Hamp- 
shire more  than  she  asked  for.  It  provided,  "  that  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  be  a  similar 
curve  line  pursuing  the  course  of  the  Merrimac  River,  at  three 
miles  distance,  on  the  north  side  thereof,  beginning  at  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  and  ending  at  a  point  due  north  of  Pautucket 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  8/ 

Falls,  and  a  straight  line  drawn  from  thence,  due  west,  till  it 
meets  with  His  Majesty's  other  governments."  Massachu- 
setts refused  to  take  part  in  surveying  and  marking  this  line, 
and  it  was  done  by  New  Hampshire  alone  in  1741  and  1742. 
It  is  the  line  of  our  map. 

The  three  towns  that  constituted  the  original  Connecticut 
were  settled  by  emigration  from  Massachusetts  in  1636  and 
1637.  It  was  then  supposed  that  the  ground  on  which  Wind- 
sor, Hartford,  and  Weathersfield  were  planted  belonged  to  that 
colony,  and  the  three  settlements  remained  for  a  year  or  two 
under  its  protection.  The  old  story  is  that,  afterward,  the 
emigrants  obtained  a  title  or  claim  under  a  patent  which 
proceeded  from  the  Council  of  New  England  by  the  way  of 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  to  Lord  Say  and  Sele  and  his  asso- 
ciates ;  but  the  existence  of  the  grant  to  Warwick,  and  so 
the  sufficiency  of  the  old  patent  of  Connecticut,  is  denied.1 
The  New  Haven  colony,  planted  in  1638,  had  no  other  title 
than  the  one  obtained  from  the  Indians  by  purchase.  Both 
the  settlers  on  the  river  and  at  New  Haven  had  much  trouble 
with  the  Dutch,  who  claimed  all  the  coast  from  the  Hudson 
to  the  Connecticut.  It  is,  therefore,  hard  to  see  that  either 
the  Connecticut  or  the  New  Haven  colonists  had  any  title  to 
the  lands  that  they  occupied,  proceeding  from  the  Crown, 
previous  to  the  charter  that  constituted  the  Connecticut 
Company,  granted  by  Charles  II.,  April  23,  1662,  which  gave 
the  colony  the  following  limits  : 

"  We  ...  do  give,  grant  and  confirm  unto  the  said 
Governor  and  Company,  and  their  successors,  all  that  part  of 
our  Dominions  in  New  England  in  America  bounded  on  the 
east  by  Narraganset  River,  commonly  called  Narraganset  Bay, 
where  the  said  River  falleth  into  the  Sea,  and  on  the  North  by 
the  Line  of  the  Massachusetts  Plantation  ;  and  on  the  South  by 
the  sea  ;  and  in  Longitude  as  the  Line  of  the  Massachusetts  Col- 

1  Johnston :  Connecticut,  S-io. 


88  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ony,  running  from  East  to  West,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  said  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay  on  the  East,  to  the  South  sea  on  the  West  Part,  with 
the  Islands  thereunto  adjoining." 

This  charter  consolidated  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  ; 
it  cut  into  the  grant  made  to  Roger  Williams  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  1643 ;  and  it  did  not  recognize  the  presence  of  the 
Dutch  on  the  Hudson  even  to  the  extent  of  making  the 
familiar  reservation  in  favor  of  a  Christian  prince  holding  or 
Christian  people  inhabiting. 

In  1636  Roger  Williams  began  the  Providence  plantation 
on  a  tract  of  land  that  he  held  either  by  gift  or  purchase  from 
the  Indians.  Settlements  were  made  on  Rhode  Island  in 
1638  and  1639,  and  a  beginning  was  also  made  on  the  western 
coast  of  Narragansett  Bay  in  1643.  An  attempt  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  extend  her  jurisdiction  over  these  settlements  was 
resisted  as  a  usurpation.  In  1643  Williams  obtained  from  the 
Parliamentary  Commissioners,  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  Presi- 
dent, a  charter  of  incorporation  for  the  two  plantations. 
In  1663  Charles  II.  granted  a  new  charter,  creating  "  the 
Governor  and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations  in  New  England  in 
America,"  that  unified  all  the  Bay  colonies,  and  restored  to 
Rhode  Island  her  original  limits,  which  had  been  invaded  by 
the  Connecticut  charter  of  the  year  before ;  an  overlapping 
of  grants  that  led  to  a  long  and  bitter  controversy.  Boundary 
disputes  between  Massachusetts  and  the  colonies  on  the  south 
began  in  1742,  and  they  came  to  an  end,  if  indeed  the  end  be 
reached,  only  a  few  years  ago.  These  disputes  are  among 
the  most  remarkable  of  their  kind  in  our  history.  To  follow 
them  through  the  colonial  and  State  legislatures,  the  com- 
missions colonial  and  State,  the  appeals  to  the  Court  of  Eng- 
land and  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  would 
be  a  task  as  tedious  as  lengthy.  Of  course  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  was  to  fix  a  latitudinal  line  that  should  fall  three 
miles  south  of  the  most  southern  point  of  Charles  River. 

J ; 


THE  THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  89 

"  The  northern  boundary  of  the  colony  was  not  fully  settled 
for  more  than  a  century.  When  Connecticut  was  settled,  the 
Massachusetts  southern  line  was  in  the  air  ;  and  in  1642  that 
colony  sent  two  men,  Woodward  and  Saffary,  to  run  the  line 
according  to  the  charter.  The  surveyors  are  said  to  have  been 
ignorant  men  ;  and  Connecticut  authorities  call  them,  lucus  a 
non  lucendo,  'the  mathematicians.'  They  began  operations  by 
finding  what  seemed  to  them  a  point  'three  English  miles, 
on  the  south  part  of  the  Charles  River,  or  of  any  or  every  part 
thereof:'  thence  the  southern  Massachusetts  line  was  to  run 
west  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  two  mathematicians,  however, 
either  hesitating  to  undertake  a  foot  journey  to  the  Pacific,  or 
doubting  the  sympathy  of  casual  Indians  with  the  advancement 
of  science,  and  being  sufficiently  learned  to  know  that  two 
points  are  enough  to  determine  the  direction  of  a  line,  did  not 
run  the  line  directly  west.  Instead,  they  took  ship,  sailed 
around  Cape  Cod  and  up  the  Connecticut  River,  and  found 
what  they  asserted  to  be  a  point  in  the  same  latitude  as  the 
first.  In  fact,  they  had  got  some  eight  miles  too  far  to  the 
south,  thus  giving  their  employers  far  too  much  territory  ;  but 
they  had  fulfilled  th^ir  principal  duty,  which  was  to  show  that 
Springfield  was  in  Massachusetts.  An  ex  parte  survey,  and  of 
such  a  nature,  could  not,  of  course,  be  recognized  by  Connecti- 
cut. The  oblong  indentation  in  Connecticut's  northern  boun- 
dary is  a  remnant  of  the  ignorance  of  Woodward  and  Saffary  ; 
for  Massachusetts  claimed  a  line  running  just  north  of  Wind- 
sor, and  Connecticut  finally  reclaimed  all  but  this  oblong.  She 
made  ex  parte  surveys  of  her  own  in  1695  and  1702,  and  then 
both  colonies  appealed  to  the  Crown.  This  was  evidently  a 
dangerous  tribunal  for  both,  and  in  1714  they  agreed  on  a  com- 
promise line,  much  as  it  is  at  present."  1 

This  line  conforms  in  general  to  the  parallel  of  42°  2!  ;  it 
marks  the  southern  limit  of  the  Massachusetts  claim  and 
the  northern  limit  of  the  Connecticut  claim  west  of  the 
Delaware.  The  disputes  among  the  New  England  colonies 

1  Johnston  :   Connecticut,  207,  208. 


9O  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

will  not  be  further  followed,  except  to  quote  Rufus  Choate's 
celebrated  description  of  a  phase  of  one  of  them.  "  The 
commissioners  might  as  well  have  decided  that  the  line 
between  the  States  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  a  bramble- 
bush,  on  the  south  by  a  bluejay,  on  the  west  by  a  hive  of  bees 
in  swarming  time,  and  on  the  east  by  five  hundred  foxes  with 
firebrands  tied  to  their  tails  "  ' — a  description  that  would  apply 
to  a  good  deal  of  other  boundary  work  done  in  colonial  times. 
The  cutting  up  of  the  territories  assigned  to  the  London  and 
Plymouth  Companies  into  two  groups  of  colonies  was  mate- 
rially modified  by  the  intrusion,  within  the  dates  of  the  James- 
town and  Plymouth  settlements,  of  a  foreign  body  that  thus  far 
has  not  been  mentioned.  In  1609  Henry  Hudson,  who,  with  a 
Dutch  commission,  was  then  searching  for  a  western  passage 
to  Cathay,  found  his  way  into  New  York  Bay,  and  into  the 
noble  river  that  bears  his  name.  The  Dutch  sent  ships  to 
the  Hudson  every  year  for  several  years,  one  motive  being 
discovery  and  another  trade  with  the  Indians.  At  that  time, 
it  will  be  remembered,  the  French  claimed  the  coast  from 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Delaware ;  moreover,  the  very  year 
that  Hudson  ascended  the  river,  Champlain  ascended  Lake 
Champlain  almost  to  its  source,  when,  fortunately,  he  turned 
back  to  Quebec.  Then  there  was  the  Cabot  title  of  the 
English,  disregarding  the  claims  of  the  Dutch  and  the  French 
alike.  The  Dutch  proceeded  to  fasten  themselves  firmly  upon 
the  mouth  and  valley  of  the  river,  which  they  called  North 
River;  and  afterward  less  firmly  upon  the  country  east  to 
Fresh  River,  as  they  called  the  Connecticut,  and  south  to  South 
River,  as  they  called  the  Delaware.  The  whole  country  claimed 
by  them  they  named  New  Netherlands.  The  English  never 
acknowledged,  but  always  denied,  the  validity  of  the  Dutch 
title ;  and  it  is  now  plain  that,  in  view  of  the  Cabot  title,  the 
geographical  relations  of  the  Hudson  to  the  regions  east  and 
south,  and  to  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  the  later  supe- 

1  Johnston :  Connecticut,  209. 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  91 

riority  of  the  English,  the  ultimate  ejection  of  Holland,  if  not 
of  the  Dutch,  and  the  incorporation  of  New  Netherlands  into 
the  English  system,  was  only  a  question  of  time.  The  Dutch 
were  in  possession  only  fifty  years ;  but  in  that  time  they 
materially  influenced  American  history,  as  well  territorial  as 
political  and  social. 

In  some  of  the  northern  "  from  sea  to  sea  "  charters  the 
King  of  England  made  the  customary  exemption  of  lands 
possessed  by  a  Christian  prince,  or  inhabited  by  Christian 
people ;  but  the  fact  that  the  presence  of  the  Dutch  was  well 
known,  and  that  they  were  regarded  as  intruders,  would  seem 
to  show  that  the  exemption  did  not  apply  to  them,  or  at  least 
was  not  meant  to  apply  to  them.  Further,  the  Connecticut 
charter  bounded  that  colony  "  on  the  south  by  the  sea;"  that 
is,  Long  Island  Sound. 

We  must  also  remember  that  the  southern  boundary  of 
the  New  England  of  1620  was  parallel  40°  north,  a  full  de- 
gree south  of  the  southernmost  point  of  the  New  England 
of  1887.  Save  the  futile  Plowden  Palatinate,  neither  the 
Council  nor  the  Crown  had  attempted  to  assign  this  belt  of 
territory  to  any  grantee.  This,  no  doubt,  would  have  been 
done  had  not  the  Dutch  been  present  in  New  Netherlands. 
We  may  be  reasonably  certain,  at  least,  that,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Dutch,  the  Hudson  Valley  would  have  become 
the  seat  of  an  English  colony  before  the  Connecticut  lines 
were  drawn  in  1662.  Perhaps  Massachusetts  and  Connecti- 
cut would  have  protested  against  a  colony  at  their  backs, 
cutting  them  off  from  the  west ;  but  the  noble  river,  the  pict- 
uresque valley,  the  interior  trade,  the  broad  and  fertile  lands 
of  the  Mohawk,  would  have  been  attractions  too  strong  for 
their  opposition.  The  floods  of  the  Hudson  would  have 
swept  away  their  "  from  sea  to  sea  "  lines,  if  they  had  ever 
been  really  carried  across  that  river.  But  while  New  York 
geographically  is  no  part  of  New  England,  but  has  a  distinct 
character  of  its  own,  it  might  have  been,  historically,  a  part 
of  New  England,  and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  such  would 


92  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

have  been  the  case,  had  not  the  Dutch  given  another  direc- 
tion to  history. 

The  long-sleeping  English  title  to  the  Hudson  was  revived 
in  1664.  On  March  I2th  of  that  year,  "divers  good  causes 
and  considerations  him  thereto  moving,"  Charles  II.,  "  of  his 
especial  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion,"  gave  and 
granted  to  his  dearest  brother,  James  Duke  of  York,  his  heirs 
and  assigns — 

"All  that  part  of  the  maine  land  of  New  England  beginning 
at  a  certaine  place  called  or  knowne  by  the  name  of  St.  Croix 
next  adjoyning  to  New  Scotland  in  America  and  from  thence 
extending  along  the  sea  coast  unto  a  certain  place  called  Petu- 
aquine  or  Pemaquid  and  so  up  the  River  thereof  to  the  further 
head  of  ye  same  as  it  tendeth  northwards  and  extending  from 
thence  to  the  River  Kinebequi  and  so  upwards  by  the  shortest 
course  to  the  River  Canada  northward  and  also  all  that  Island 
or  Islands  commonly  called  by  the  severall  name  or  names  of 
Matowacks  or  Long  Island  scituate  lying  and  being  towards  the 
west  of  Cape  Codd  and  ye  narrow  Higansetts  abutting  upon 
the  maine  land  between  the  two  Rivers  there  called  or  knowne 
by  the  severall  names  of  Conecticutt  and  Hudsons  River  to- 
gather  also  with  the  said  river  called  Hudsons  River  and  all  the 
land  from  the  west  side  of  Conecticutt  to  ye  east  side  of  Dela- 
ware Bay  and  also  all  those  severall  Islands  called  or  knowne 
by  the  names  of  Martin's  Vinyard  and  Nantukes  otherwise 
Nantuckett  together  with  all  ye  lands  islands  soyles  rivers  har- 
bours mines  minerals  quarryes  woods  marshes  waters  lakes,  etc." 

The  next  year  a  fleet  sent  out  by  the  Royal  Duke  took 
possession  of  New  Netherlands.  A  few  years  later  the 
Dutch  recovered  the  province  for  a  single  year ;  but  that  ar- 
ticle of  the  Treaty  of  Westminster,  1674,  which  required  the 
surrender  by  both  parties  of  all  conquests  made  in  the  course 
of  the  preceding  war,  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  conqueror, 
gave  the  English  a  secure  title  as  against  the  Dutch.  A  second 
charter,  dated  1674,  confirmed  the  Duke  in  possession  of  the 
province,  the  boundary  descriptions  remaining  much  as  be- 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  93 

fore.  The  Duke  gave  the  province  the  name  by  which  it  has 
since  been  known. 

That  part  of  Maine  included  in  the  Duke  of  York's  char- 
ter, Long  Island,  and  some  smaller  islands  to  the  east,  had 
been  bought  by  him  the  year  before  of  the  heirs  of  Earl 
Stirling,  to  whom  they  had  fallen  on  the  dissolution  of  the 
Plymouth  Company,  in  1635.  Pemaquid,  as  the  Maine 
tract  was  called,  was  annexed  to  Massachusetts  in  1686,  and 
it  was  confirmed  to  that  colony  by  the  charter  of  1691.  Mar- 
tha's Vineyard,  Nantucket,  and  other  islands  in  the  neighbor- 
hood were  also  included  within  the  same  charter.  Long 
Island,  which  Nature  plainly  intended  to  go  with  the  country 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Sound,  and  the  possession  of  which 
had  been  disputed  by  the  Connecticut  people  and  the  Dutch, 
was  henceforth  attached  to  New  York.  At  the  date  of  the 
English  conquest  of  New  Netherlands,  the  English  colonies 
east  and  southwest  had  become  measurably  adjusted  to  the 
Dutch ;  but  now  matters  were  thrown  into  greater  confusion 
than  ever,  and  a  new  series  of  adjustments  became  necessary. 
Before  attempting  a  general  account  of  these  arrangements, 
we  should  take  a  closer  look  of  some  work  that  Charles  II. 
did  in  the  years  1662  to  1664. 

In  the  first  of  those  years,  he  bounded  Connecticut  on  the 
east  by  Narragansett  Bay,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Pacific 
Ocean ;  thus  jumping  half  the  claim  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
wholly  ignoring  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson.  In  the  second 
year,  he  bounded  Rhode  Island  on  the  west  by  the  Paw- 
catuck,  thus  jumping  the  eastern  part  of  the  grant  made  the 
year  before  to  Connecticut.  In  the  third  year,  he  not  only 
gave  the  Hudson  to  his  brother,  but  he  made  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  Duke's  province  the  Connecticut  River,  thus 
sanctioning  the  widest  claim  that  the  Dutch  had  ever  made 
in  that  direction,  and  cutting  away  from  one-third  to  one- 
half  of  the  present  limits  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut. 

The  establishment  of  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson,  if  not 
the  geography  of  the  country,  had  probably  convinced  Mas- 


94  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

sachusetts  and  Connecticut  that  their  "from  sea  to  sea  "limits 
never  would  exist  save  on  parchment.  At  all  events,  they 
never  dreamed,  now  that  the  Hudson  had  passed  into  English 
hands,  of  resisting  the  royal  will.  New  York  must  be  recog- 
nized, as  a  matter  of  course,  and  the  only  thing  now  to  do  was 
to  make  the  best  terms  as  to  boundaries  that  they  could. 

The  issue  with  Connecticut  raised  by  the  Duke's  grant 
was  referred  to  the  Royal  Commissioners  for  the  Colonies,  who 
promptly  fixed  a  line  twenty  miles  east  of  the  Hudson ;  but 
the  second  charter  to  York,  1674,  reaffirmed  the  boundaries 
of  1664,  and  reopened  the  whole  question.  In  1683  Connect- 
icut agreed  with  Governor  Dongan,  of  New  York,  upon  a 
line  that,  with  some  rectifications,  is  the  basis  of  the  present 
boundary  between  the  two  States.  In  1725  and  1737  the  line 
was  run  practically  where  it  is  to-day ;  but  we  have  a  curious 
example  of  how  the  boundary  disputes  of  the  seventeenth 
century  project  themselves  forward  in  the  fact  that  the  line 
was  resurveyed  by  New  York  in  1860,  agreed  upon  by  the 
two  States  in  1878  and  1879,  and  ratified  by  Congress  in  1881. 
The  western  boundary  of  Connecticut  happens  to  fall,  at  the 
sea  shore,  on  the  forty-first  degree  of  north  latitude ;  and  that 
fact  determines  the  latitude  of  a  western  line  that  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  consider  hereafter. 

In  the  case  of  Massachusetts,  as  in  the  case  of  Connecticut, 
New  York  claimed  eastward  to  Connecticut  River.  The  con- 
test was  so  bitter  that  the  two  colonies  never  came  to  an  agree- 
ment until  1773,  and  then  the  Revolution,  coming  on  imme- 
diately after,  prevented  the  running  of  the  line  until  1787. 
With  a  modification  or  two  of  no  consequence  for  our  purpose, 
the  line  of  1773-1787  stands  to-day. 

Whether  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  or  either  of  them, 
considered  at  the  time  what  the  effect  of  the  lines  of  1733  and 
1773  would  be  upon  their  claims  in  the  interior,  I  have  no 
means  of  knowing ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, in  1720,  had  spoken  of  New  York  as  cutting  that 
colony  "  asunder,"  and  that  a  few  years  later  Connecticut  men 


THE  THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  95 

were  making  their  way  into  the  wilderness  west  of  the  Dela- 
ware. When  the  two  States  were  afterward  told  that  by  con- 
senting to  the  lines  east  of  the  Hudson  they  had  barred  their 
own  charter-rights  to  extend  farther  west,  they  replied  that 
the  Duke  of  York's  grant  was  bounded  on  the  west  by  the 
Delaware,  that  he  had  jumped  them,  therefore,  only  to  that 
limit,  and  that  their  consenting  to  the  fact  in  no  sense  barred 
them  west  of  his  boundary. 

No  part  of  the  whole  coast  was  more  sought  after,  or  was 
the  scene  of  more  experiments  in  colonization,  than  the  Dela- 
ware country  and  the  region  east  of  it  to  the  ocean.  The 
Swedes,  the  Fins,  the  Dutch,  and  men  from  New  Haven, 
all  mingled  in  the  opening  scenes  in  that  region;  and  it 
was  in  New  Jersey  that  Sir  Edmund  Plowden  sought  to  set 
up  the  palatinate  of  "New  Albion."  In  1655  the  country 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  who,  however,  received  it 
only  as  trustees  for  the  nation  whose  navigators  had  discov- 
ered the  continent.  The  Duke  of  York  laid  claim,  when  the 
time  came,  to  the  western  side  as  well  as  the  eastern  side  of 
the  river,  although  it  was  not  included  in  his  grant,  basing  the 
claim  on  the  Dutch  capitulation.  In  1664,  two  months  before 
the  expedition  sent  to  the  Hudson  sailed,  the  Duke  sold  to 
Lord  John  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret  a  territory  that 
he  thus  described  : 

"All  that  tract  of  land  adjacent  to  New  England/ and  lying 
and  being  to  the  westward  of  Long  Island  and  Manhitas  Island, 
and  bounded  on  the  east  part  by  the  main  sea  and  part  by 
Hudson's  River,  and  hath  upon  the  west  Delaware  Bay  or 
river,  and  extendeth  southward  to  the  main  ocean  as  far  as 
Cape  May,  at  the  mouth  of  Delaware  Bay,  and  to  the  north- 
ward as  far  as  the  northernmost  branch  of  the  said  bay  or 
river  of  Delaware,  which  is  forty-one  degrees  and  forty  min- 
utes of  latitude,  and  crosseth  over  thence  in  a  strait  line  to 
Hudson's  River  in  forty-one  degrees  of  latitude  ;  which  said 
tract  of  land  is  hereafter  to  be  called  by  the  name  or  names 
of  New  Ceaserea  or  New  Jersey." 


96  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

New  Jersey  had  a  changeful  history  until  1702,  when  the 
proprietors  surrendered  the  province  to  the  Crown.  Royal 
Commissioners  fixed  the  boundary  line  between  the  colony 
and  New  York  substantially  where  it  is  to-day,  in  1769. 

In  the  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  New  York 
grants,  we  find  the  key  to  another  memorable  territorial  con- 
test. The  Massachusetts  of  1629  included  all  lands  lying 
within  the  space  of  three  English  miles  to  the  northward  of 
any  and  every  part  of  Merrimac  River.  The  New  Hamp- 
shire of  1635  reached  on  the  south  to  the  Naumkeck,  and  on 
the  west  sixty  miles  inland.  The  commissioners  of  1740,  to 
whom  the  dispute  between  the  two  colonies  was  referred,  laid 
down  a  line  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac,  following  its 
course  to  a  point  north  of  Pawtucket  Falls,  and  then  proceed- 
ing due  west  "  till  it  meets  with  His  Majesty's  other  govern- 
ments." Under  this  decision  New  Hampshire  claimed  that 
she  extended  as  far  west  as  Massachusetts,  but  Massachusetts 
continued  to  assert  her  right  to  the  country  west  of  Connecti- 
cut River -extending  north  to  the  possessions  of  France.  New 
York  said  the  region  between  Lake  Champlain  and  Connect- 
icut River  belonged  to  her,  under  the  grant  of  1664,  1674. 
New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  claimed  that  New  York 
was  barred  by  the  twenty-mile  line  drawn  by  the  Royal  Com- 
missioners between  Connecticut  and  New  York  in  1664;  but 
New  York  denied  that  this  line  held  north  of  Massachusetts, 
and  in  1764  the  King  in  Council  decided  the  issue  in  her  favor. 
Both  before  and  after  the  decision  of  1740  was  rendered,  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  Hampshire  made  grants  of  land  in  the 
disputed  district.  Settlers  from  all  the  New  England  colo- 
nies flowed  into  the  territory,  and  especially  from  Connecticut. 
After  the  king's  decision  of  1764  New  York  strove  to  extend 
her  jurisdiction  over  the  "  New  Hampshire  Grants,"  as  the 
district  came  to  be  called.  She  repudiated  the  New  Eng- 
land titles  of  land-holders,  and  sought  to  compel  the  set- 
tlers to  purchase  anew  of  her.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
long  and  bitter  quarrel  between  the  "  Green  Mountain  Boys  " 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  97 

and  the  "  Yorkers."  The  settlers  made  common  cause  against 
New  York's  selfish  policy.  Their  determination  to  maintain 
their  titles  and  to  repel  aggression  ripened  into  a  desire  for  in- 
dependence. In  1777  a  convention  declared  the  Grants  a  sepa- 
rate and  independent  State,  with  the  name  of  "  New  Ccjnnect- 
icut."  The  next  year  a  constitution  was  adopted  and  the 
name  Vermont  selected.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
Vermont  was  before  Congress  asking  for  admission  to  the 
circle  of  States  for  fifteen  years.  For  much  of  that  time  the 
people  hardly  considered  themselves  a  part  of  the  United 
States  at  all  ;  they  denied  allegiance  to  all  other  States,  and 
were  not  a  State  themselves.  Through  the  Revolution  they 
waged  a  separate  war  against  Great  Britain,  and  even  entered 
into  negotiations  for  a  separate  peace.  Their  condition  is  an 
anomaly  in  the  history  of  our  system.  Not  to  touch  on  in- 
termediate points,  Vermont  was  finally  admitted  to  the  Union 
in  1791. 

7 


VII. 

THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES  AS  CONSTITUTED 
BY  THE   ROYAL  CHARTERS.— (II.) 


WE  come  now  to  a  charter  that  is  the  source  of  more 
boundary  disputes  than  any  other  in  our  whole  history. 
This  is  the  charter  given  to  William  Penn,  in  1681,  by  Charles 
II.,  in  discharge  of  a  debt  that  the  king  owed  to  Penn's  father. 

"...  all  that  Tract  or  Parte  of  Land  in  America, 
with  all  the  Islands  therein  conteyned,  as  the  same  is 
bounded  on  the  East  by  Delaware  River,  from  twelve  miles 
distance  Northwards  of  New  Castle  Towne  unto  the  three  and 
fortieth  degree  of  Northerne  Latitude,  if  the  said  River  doeth 
extende  so  farre  Northwards  ;  But  if  the  said  River  shall  not 
extend  soe  farre  Northward,  then  by  the  said  River  soe  farr  as 
it  doth  extend  ;  and  from  the  head  of  the  said  River  the  East- 
erne  Bounds  are  to  bee  determined  by  a  Meridian  Line,  tb  bee 
drawne  from  the  head  of  the  said  River,  unto  the  said  three 
and  fortieth  Degree.  The  said  Lands  to  extend  westwards  five 
degrees  in  longitude,  to  bee  computed  from  the  said  Easterne 
Bounds  ;  and  the  said  Lands  to  bee  bounded  on  the  North  by 
the  beginning  of  the  three  and  fortieth  degree  of  Northern 
Latitude,  and  on  the  South  by  a  Circle  drawne  at  twelve  miles 
distance  from  New  Castle  Northward  and  Westward  unto  the 
beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree  of  Northern  Latitude,  and 
then  by  a  streight  Line  Westward  to  the  Limitt  of  Longitude 
above  mentioned." 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  99 

Penn  proceeded  at  once  to  extend  his  province  and  to  per- 
fect his  title.  He  bought  Delaware  of  the  Duke  of  York,  and 
also  obtained  from  him  the  relinquishment  of  all  his  claim  to 
the  western  shore  of  the  river  above  the  twelve-mile  circle, 
which  had  been  drawn  to  leave  the  town  of  New  Castle  and 
neighborhood  in  the  Duke's  hands.  The  Duke's  deeds  to 
Penn,  which  bear  the  date  1682,  completed  the  limitation  of 
his  province  of  New  York  on  the  sea-coast. 

The  grant  to  Penn  confused  the  old  controversy  between 
Virginia  and  Lord  Baltimore  as  to  their  boundary,  and  led  to 
fresh  controversies.  The  question  soon  arose  :  "  What  do  the 
descriptions  '  the  beginning  of  the  fortieth,'  and  '  the  begin- 
ning .of  the  three  and  fortieth  degree  of  northern  latitude' 
mean  ?  "  If  they  meant  the  fortieth  and  forty-third  paral- 
lels of  north  latitude,  as  most  historians  have  held,  Penn's 
province  was  the  zone,  three  degrees  of  latitude  in  width, 
that  leaves  Philadelphia  a  little  to  the  south  and  Syracuse  a 
little  to  the  north  ;  but  if  those  descriptions  meant  the  belts 
lying  between  39°  and  40°,  and  42°  and  43°,  as  some  authors 
have  held,  then  Penn's  southern  and  northern  boundaries 
were  39°  and  42°  north.  A  glance  at  the  map  of  Penn- 
sylvania will  show  the  reader  how  different  the  territorial 
dispositions  would  have  been  if  either  one  of  these  construc- 
tions had  been  carried  out.  The  first  construction  would 
avoid  disputes  on  the  south,  unless  with  Virginia  west  of 
the  mountains  ;  on  the  north  it  would  not  conflict  with  New 
York,  but  would  most  seriously  conflict  with  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  west  of  the  Delaware.  The  second  construc- 
tion involved  disputes  with  the  two  southern  colonies  con- 
cerning the  degree  39-40  to  the  farthest  limit  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  it  also  overlapped  Connecticut's  claim  to  the  degree  41- 
42.  Perhaps  we  cannot  certainly  say  what  was  the  intention 
of  the  king,  or  Penn's  first  understanding ;  but  the  Quaker  pro- 
prietary and  his  successors  adopted  substantially  the  second 
construction,  and  thus  involved  their  province  in  the  most 
bitter  disputes. 


100  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  first  quarrel  was  with  Lord  Baltimore.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  this  "  notable  quarrel "  "  continued  more  than  eighty 
years  ;  was  the  cause  of  endless  trouble  between  individuals  ; 
occupied  the  attention  not  only  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
respective  provinces,  but  of  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Planta- 
tions, of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  and  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cils of  at  least  three  monarchs  ;  it  greatly  retarded  the  settle- 
ment and  development  of  a  beautiful  and  fertile  country,  and 
brought  about  numerous  tumults,  v/hich  sometimes  ended  in 
bloodshed."  '  The  eastern  boundary  of  Maryland  was  Dela- 
ware Bay  and  River,  from  the  intersection  of  the  line  drawn 
across  the  peninsula  from  Watkins's  Point  to  the  main  ocean, 
on  the  south,  "  into  that  part  of  the  Bay  of  Delaware  on  the 
north  which  lieth  under  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude 
from  the  equinoctial  where  New  England  is  terminated,"  on 
the  north  ;  the  northern  boundary  was  "  the  fortieth  parallel 
from  the  bay  to  the  true  meridian  of  the  first  fountain  of 
the  River  Potomac."  But  Baltimore's  charter  described  the 
country  granted  to  him  as  "  not  yet  cultivated,"  hactenus  in- 
culta ;  and  at  once,  on  his  taking  possession  in  1634,  the 
question  arose  whether  this  was  a  mere  description  of  the 
land,  or  a  condition  of  the  grant  equivalent  to  the  familiar 
"  not  actually  possessed  by  any  Christian  prince  nor  inhab- 
ited by  Christian  people  "  of  the  seventeenth-century  charters. 
Some  Virginians  were  already  within  the  limits  marked  out 
for  Baltimore  when  the  Ark  and  the  Dove  entered  the  St. 
Marys.  Notably,  Claiborne  had  set  up  his  trading-post  on 
Kent  Island  in  1632  ;  and,  not  unnaturally,  hactenus  inculta 
was  at  once  invoked  in  the  Virginia  interest.  After  much 
strife  and  some  bloodshed,  this  controversy  was  finally  set- 
tled in  Baltimore's  favor.  In  1659,  when  Baltimore  attempted 
to  expel  them  from  his  limits,  the  Dutch  said  hactenus  inculta 
applied  to  them  as  the  first  possessors  of  the  country ;  and 
historians  of  our  day  have  invoked  the  phrase  in  the  Dutch 

1  Scaife  :  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,  1885,  241. 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  IOI 

interest.  Considering  that  the  Kings  of  England  never  ac- 
knowledged the  Dutch  claims  on  the  Delaware  more  than  on 
the  Hudson,  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  notice  this  point 
but  for  one  fact.  Such  title  as  the  Dutch  had,  passed  by 
conquest  to  the  Duke  of  York,  in  1664,  who  sold  it  to  Penn  ; 
and  he  did  not  fail  to  make  the  most  of  it  in  maintaining  his 
cause  against  his  Southern  neighbor. 

But  the  principal  contention  between  Penn  and  Baltimore 
grew  out  of  the  inconsistent  and  conflicting  boundaries  that 
the  Crown  had  given  them.  First,  Baltimore's  northeast 
corner  should  be  "  in  the  Bay  of  Delaware  "  as  well  as  on  the 
fortieth  parallel,  while  the  fortieth  parallel  crosses  the  Dela- 
ware many  miles  north  of  the  head  of  the  bay.  We  are  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  Charles  I.  intended  to  bound  Baltimore 
on  the  north  by  the  fortieth  parallel,  for  we  cannot  suppose 
that  he  .intended,  in  1632,  to  leave  either  for  Virginia  or  the 
Crown  a  narrow  strip  of  territory  south  of  the  New  England 
line ;  but  it  was  very  unfortunate  for  Baltimore  that  the  refer- 
ence to  the  bay  left  open  a  door  for  Penn  to  enter  with  his 
equally  impossible  boundary,  when  the  day  came  to  deal  with 
him.  Penn's  southern  boundary  was  "  a  circle  drawn  at  twelve 
miles  distance  from  New  Castle  northward  and  westward  unto 
the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree  of  northern  latitude,  and 
thence  by  a  straight  line  westward  "  to  the  limit  of  longitude 
fixed  by  the  charter.  There  was  a  dispute  whether  this  circle 
should  be  drawn  "  horizontally"  or  "  superficially  ;  "  but  no 
matter  which  way  it  was  drawn,  it  would  not  touch  either 
the  thirty-ninth  or  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude. 

Definite  and  precise  as  the  boundaries  of  1632  and  1681 
apparently  were,  it  is  clear  that  they  were  drawn  in  ignorance 
of  the  geography  of  the  Delaware  region.  Nor  was  this  ig- 
norance soon  removed ;  maps  of  the  next  century  are  extant 
on  which  the  heads  of  both  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  Bays 
are  laid  down  north  of  the  fortieth  parallel.1  Moreover,  the 
. ^ __ 

1  Scaife  :  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,  1885,  248. 


102  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

mistake  consisted  in  carrying  the  parallel  too  far  south,  rather 
than  in  bringing  the  heads  of  the  bays  too  far  north  ;  at  least 
vboth  Penn  and  Baltimore  were  surprised  to  find,  when  they 
came  to  make  surveys,  that  parallel  falling  so  far  north. 

The  proofs  that  the  king  intended  to  bound  Penn  on  the 
south  by  the  fortieth  parallel  are  the  fact  that  said  parallel 
was  the  southern  boundary  of  New  England,  established  in 
1620,  and  the  Maryland  charter.  Baltimore  stood  stoutly 
for  that  construction  of  his  charter,  relying  on  the  literal 
force  of  the  language.  Penn  claimed  to  the  thirty-ninth  paral- 
lel, but  he  could  hardly  have  expected  at  any  time  to  main- 
tain that  line.  His  determination  was  to  gain  a  frontage  on 
both  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  to  push  his  southern 
boundary  as  far  south  as  possible.  Fortunately  for  Penn  and 
unfortunately  for  Baltimore,  Penn's  line  must  touch  the  twelve- 
mile  circle,  as  well  as  be  "  the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  de- 
gree," while  Baltimore's  northern  line  must  touch  Delaware 
Bay  as  well  as  be  the  fortieth  degree.  It  will  be  seen  that 
each  one  of  the  descriptions  contains  a  major  and  a  minor 
point ;  and  also  that  the  two  major  points  supported  Balti- 
more's, and  the  two  minor  points  Penn's  pretensions.  Hence 
Penn  urged  that  the  particular  and  the  definite  should  control 
the  general  and  the  indefinite.  This  was  holding  that  the 
Delaware  Bay  and  the  twelve-mile-circle  limitations  should 
override  those  in  regard  to  the  fortieth  degree.  Penn  had  a 
further  advantage  in  the  fact  that  he  had  obtained  his  title  to 
the  three  counties  of  Delaware,  which  were  also  within  Balti- 
more's grant,  by  purchase  from  the  Duke  of  York.  First  and 
last,  Baltimore  stood  for  his  charter-line,  while  Penn  was  dis- 
posed to  compromise,  but  not  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the 
Delaware  counties  to  his  rival  or  to  surrender  Philadelphia. 

After  conferences,  arguments,  propositions,  litigations  in  the 
courts  and  hearings  before  the  Privy  Council,  the  proprietors 
compromised  the  case  in  1760.  This  compromise,  which 
practically  carried  out  an  older  one,  as  well  as  a  decision  by 
Lord  Chancellor  Hardwicke,  was  to  this  effect :  (i)  To  run  a 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  103 

due  east  and  west  line  across  the  peninsula  through  Cape 
Henlopen  (but  not  the  Henlopen  of  our  maps) ;  (2)  to  run  a 
line  from  the  middle  of  this  Henlopen  line  tangent  to  the 
twelve-mile  circle  drawn  horizontally  ;  (3)  to  run  a  line  from 
the  point  where  the  tangent  touches  the  circle  due  north  to 
the  parallel  of  latitude  fifteen  miles  south  of  the  southern 
limit  of  Philadelphia  ;  (4)  to  run  the  said  parallel  of  latitude — 
the  lands  north  and  east  of  this  series  of  lines  to  belong  to 
Pennsylvania,  the  lands  south  and  west  to  Maryland.  The 
proprietors  sent  over  two  distinguished  mathematicians,  Jere- 
miah Mason  and  Charles  Dixon,  who  established  the  various 
lines  in  the  years  1763-67.  The  east  and  west  line,  which 
they  ran  and  marked  two  hundred  and  forty-four  miles  west 
of  the  Delaware,  is  the  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  of  history,  so 
long  the  boundary  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States.  Its 
precise  latitude  is  39°  43'  26.3  "  north.  The  Penns  did  not, 
therefore,  gain  the  degree  39-40,  but  they  did  gain  a  zone 
one-fourth  of  a  degree  in  width,  south  of  the  fortieth  degree, 
to  their  western  limit,  because  the  decision  of  1760  controlled 
that  of  1779,  made  with  Virginia.  Had  the  heads  of  the 
two  bays  really  extended  north  of  the  fortieth  degree,  we 
should  no  doubt  have  seen  the  Penns  struggling  to  limit 
Baltimore  by  that  line,  rather  than  by  a  point  in  Delaware 
Bay,  and  to  carry  their  grant  north  to  latitude  43°.  As  it  is, 
Pennsylvania  is  narrower  by  nearly  three-fourths  of  a  degree 
than  the  charter  of  1681  contemplated.  No  doubt,  however, 
the  Penns  considered  the  narrow  strip  gained  at  the  south 
more  valuable  than  the  broad  one  lost  at  the  north.  With 
the  Revolution,  Delaware  ceased  to  be  a  dependency  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  became  an  independent  state  with  the  boun- 
daries of  1760. 

But  the  grant  to  Penn  conflicted  with  the  Virginia  boun- 
daries of  1609.  No  matter  whether  the  beginning  of  the  for- 
tieth degree  meant  the  thirty-ninth  or  the  fortieth  parallel,  it 
would  cut  that  northwest  line  running  "  throughout  from  sea 
to  sea "  which  that  province  claimed  as  her  northern  boun- 


104  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

dary.  The  issue  was  not  raised  as  soon  as  the  issues  between 
Maryland  and  the  other  two  States,  for  an  obvious  reason ; 
but  that  great  awakening  to  Western  interests  that  followed 
the  close  of  King  George's  war  in  1748  brought  it  at  once  to 
the  fore.  Virginians  and  Pennsylvanians  alike  now  began  to 
find  their  way  over  the  mountains,  not  furtively,  as  hunters, 
but  openly,  as  traders  and  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  their  meeting 
in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Ohio  was  alone  sufficient  to  force 
the  issue.  Besides,  building  works  of  defence  against  the 
Indians  and  the  French,  that  the  renewed  mutterings  of  war 
made  necessary,  hastened  it.  The  controversy  began  for- 
mally in  1752,  eight  years  before  Penn  and  Baltimore  reached 
their  agreement  and  fifteen  years  before  Mason  and  Dixon 
planted  their  two  hundred  and  forty-fourth  mile-post  from 
the  Delaware. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  Governor  Spotswood's 
famous  ride  over  the  Blue  Ridge  in  1716.  The  Virginians 
had  been  one  hundred  and  ten  years  in  reaching  the  Valley  of 
Virginia,  and  even  then  the  glowing  reports  that  the  gov- 
ernor's company  made  of  its  fertility  and  beauty  did  not  lead 
to  its  immediate  settlement.  But  in  1738  the  General  As- 
sembly created  Augusta  County,  bounding  it  on  the  east  by 
the  Blue  Ridge  and  on  the  west  and  northwest  by  "  the  ut- 
most limits  of  Virginia."  Whether  these  limits  were  the 
Pacific  Ocean  or  the  Mississippi  River,  they  included  all  West- 
ern Pennsylvania.  Accordingly,  when  the  Pennsylvanians 
began  to  settle  west  of  the  mountains  they  were  within  the 
limits  of  a  Virginia  county  already  organized.  When  Wash- 
ington led  the  Virginia  Blues  into  that  region  to  dispute  the 
progress  of  the  French,  he  went  not  only  to  defend  the  terri- 
tory of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  but  also  to  defend  the  territory 
of  the  Old  Dominion.  Moreover,  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly 
declined  Lieutenant-Governor  Dinwiddie's  proposal  to  assist 
in  fortifying  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio,  on  grounds  that  gave 
Lord  Dunmore  some  advantage  in  the  correspondence  with 
Governor  Penn,  soon  to  be  mentioned.  To  stimulate  volun- 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  IO5 

teering  in  1754,  Governor  Dinwiddie  issued  a  proclamation 
offering  200,000  acres  of  land  in  bounties,  100,000  near  the 
Forks  of  the  Ohio,  to  be  called  the  "  garrison  lands,"  and  the 
remainder  down  the  river,  and  this  was  in  part  the  stimulus 
that  brought  into  the  field  the  force  that  Washington  com- 
manded that  year.  While  the  Pennsylvanians  were  too  apa- 
thetic to  assist  the  Virginia  governor  in  building  the  pro- 
posed fortifications,  they  would  not  brook  this  invasion  of 
their  rights.  Governor  Hamilton  expostulated,  and  Dinwid- 
die defended  himself  on  the  ground  that  the  issue  was  doubt- 
ful and  the  case  urgent.  The  grant  was  approved  by  the 
king,  1763,  but  it  was  not  until  the  very  eve  of  the  Revolu- 
tion that  the  patents  were  issued  to  the  claimants.1 

Braddock's  defeat  gave  the  French  commander  on  the  Ohio 
the  opportunity  that  he  so  well  improved,  and  also  so  well 
described,  of  "  ruining  the  three  adjacent  provinces,  Pennsylva- 
nia, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  driving  off  the  inhabitants,  and 
totally  destroying  the  settlements  from  a  tract  of  country 
thirty  leagues  wide  reckoning  from  the  line  of  Fort  Cumber- 
land;"2 and  of  course  adjourned  the  boundary-war  until  the  war 
of  arms  should  cease.  With  the  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne  into 
the  hands  of  the  English  in  1758,  settlers  began  again  to  find 
their  way  to  the  valleys  of  the  streams  flowing  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. For  some  years  Virginia  allowed  her  claim  to  the  part 
of  Pennsylvania  west  of  the  mountains  to  sleep  ;  she  did  not 
even  remonstrate  when  Mason  and  Dixon  carried  their  line 
west  of  the  meridian  of  the  "Fairfax  stone;  "  but  Virginians, 
as  well  as  Pennsylvanians,  continued  to  make  their  way  into 
the  disputed  region.  In  1769  the  lands  about  Pittsburg 

1  In  some  cases,  at  least,  patents  for  land  in  Pennsylvania  issued  by  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  were  affirmed  by  Pennsylvania  courts.  Thus,  in  1775,  Lord  Dun- 
more  gave  Washington  a  patent  for  2,813  acres,  described  as  being  in  Augusta 
County,  Virginia,  on  the  waters  of  Miller's  run,  etc.,  that  are  within  Washington 
County,  Pennsylvania.  The  lands  were  occupied  by  squatters,  who  denied  the 
validity  of  the  title,  but  the  Pennsylvania  court  sustained  the  patent  and  ejected 
the  intruders  in  1784.  Butterfield  :  Washington  and  Crawford  Letters,  73. 

2Parkman  :   Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  L,  329. 


IO6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

were  surveyed  for  the  Pennsylvania  proprietors,  and  settle- 
ments under  the  government  of  this  province  now  became 
more  rapid.  Bedford  County,  embracing  all  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania as  claimed  by  the  Penns,  was  organized  in  1771,  and 
Westmoreland  County,  embracing  the  part  of  Bedford  west 
of  Laurel  Hill,  in  1773.  This  region  was  also  included  in 
Augusta  County,  Virginia,  as  already  related.  The  result  was, 
that  some  of  the  inhabitants  sided  with  one  State,  some  with 
the  other,  and  some  with  neither.  As  early  as  1771  the  more 
turbulent  entered  into  an  agreement,  which  they  proclaimed 
openly,  to  keep  off  all  officers  of  the  law  whatever,  under  a 
penalty  of  .£50,  to  be  forfeited  by  the  party  who  should  re- 
fuse to  keep  the  contract.1  Arthur  St.  Clair,  of  whom  we 
shall  soon  hear  more  on  a  greater  theatre  of  action,  made 
his  home  in  the  disputed  district  in  1770,  where  he  became 
first  a  surveyor,  and  then  a  magistrate,  with  a  Pennsylvania 
commission.  In  January,  1774,  Dr.  John  Connolly,  who  fig- 
ures in  the  history  of  those  times  as  a  land-jobber  and  politi- 
cal tool  of  Lord  Dunmore,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  appeared 
at  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio  with  a  commission  from  his  Lord- 
ship, with  the  high-sounding  title  of  "  Captain-Commandant 
of  the  Militia  of  Pittsburg  and  its  dependencies."  Connolly 
seized  Fort  Pitt,  dismantled  two  years  before,  named  it  Fort 
Dunmore,  and  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  that  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  was  about  to  take  steps  to  redress  the  griev- 
ances of  the  people  of  the  region,  and  calling  them  to  meet  as 
a  militia  the  twenty-fifth  of  that  month.  St.  Clair  caused  him 
to  be  arrested  for  the  act,  but  he  was  soon  released  on  his  own 
recognizance.  Afterward  Pennsylvania  magistrates  were  ar- 
rested and  hurried  off  to  Staunton  in  the  Virginia  Valley. 

The  arrest  of  Connolly  led  to  a  correspondence  between 
Governors  Penn  and  Dunmore,  to  only  one  feature  of  which 
attention  will  be  paid.  Penn  stated  that,  according  to  the 
Pennsylvania  calculations,  Fort  Pitt  was  "  near  six  miles  east- 

>SU  Clair  Papers,  L,  258. 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  IO/ 

ward  of  the  Western  extent  of  the  province."  Dunmore  re- 
jected this  view,  and  asserted  the  Virginia  claim.  He  also  said 
that  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  at  the  time  when  Dinwiddie 
was  proposing  to  fortify  the  Upper  Ohio,  had  admitted  that 
Pittsburg  was  not  within  the  limits  of  that  government ;  but 
Penn  replied  denying  that  the  assembly  had  made  such  an 
admission,  and  affirming  that  the  act  would  not  conclude  any- 
thing if  the  assembly  had  done  so. 

In  May,  Messrs.  Tilghman  and  Allen,  appointed  commis- 
sioners on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania,  visited  Williamsburg  to 
arrange  matters,  if  possible.  Propositions  were  made  on  both 
sides,  and  all  were  rejected. 

Meantime  the  strife  went  on.  St.  Clair  wrote,  in  1/74: 
"  As  much  the  greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  near  the  line 
have  removed  from  Virginia,  they  are  inexpressibly  fond  of 
everything  that  comes  from  that  quarter,  and  their  minds  are 
never  suffered  to  be  at  rest." l  He  also  describes  the  panic  as 
so  great  that  it  threatened  to  depopulate  the  country.  He 
charged  Dunmore  with  desiring  to  bring  on  an  Indian  war, 
which  charge  proved  to  be  true.  His  Lordship  was  more  than 
suspected  of  having  an  interest  in  lands  over  which  he  pro- 
posed to  extend  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia.  Governor  Penn 
told  the  Westmoreland  magistrates  that,  as  he  could  not  raise 
a  militia  like  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  it  was  vain  to  contend 
with  the  Virginians  "  in  the  way  of  force,"  and  warned  them 
not  to  enter  into  such  contests  with  Dunmore's  officers,  or 
even  to  proceed  against  them  by  way  of  criminal  prosecution 
for  exercising  the  powers  of  government.  Dunmore  himself 
visited  Pittsburg;  and  in  I//5  the  Augusta  County  Court 
sat  for  two  terms  at  Pittsburg,  at  which  terms  Pennsylva- 
nians  were  arraigned  for  defying  Virginia  authority.  Finally, 
the  Pennsylvanians  carried  Connolly  off  to  Philadelphia,  and 
then  the  Virginians  retaliated  by  sending  some  Pennsylvanians 
to  Wheeling  as  hostages. 

1  St  Clair  Papers,  L,  284. 


108  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  this  unhappy  controversy  was 
forced  by  Lord  Dunmore  rather  than  by  Virginia.  He 
continued  to  carry  things  with  a  strong  hand,  despite  the 
steady  resistance  of  the  Pennsylvania  authorities,  down  to 
the  Indian  war  that  takes  its  name  from  him,  which  was  an- 
other "part  of  his  arbitrary  Western  policy,  and  even  to  the 
time  that  he  went  on  board  the  man-of-war  that  saved  him 
from  the  vengeance  of  the  Virginians. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  illustration  of  the  confused 
state  of  affairs  in  those  Pennsylvania  wilds  than  the  conduct 
of  Colonel  William  Crawford,  the  mention  of  whose  name 
always  suggests  the  terrible  tragedy  that  closed  his  life. 
Crawford  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  marched  to  Fort  Du- 
quesne  with  the  Virginia  troops  in  1758.  In  1765  he  made  his 
home  on  the  Youghiogheny  River,  in  the  disputed  district. 
He  was  Washington's  Western  land-agent  for  many  years,  and 
his  letters  to  him  and  to  St.  Clair  throw  much  light  on  the 
events  in  the  midst  of  which  he  moved.  He  accepted  a  com- 
mission as  a  Pennsylvania  magistrate  in  1770,  and  sided  with 
this  State  in  the  boundary-controversy  until  1774;  then,  ac- 
cepting a  commission  from  Dunmore,  he  took  an  active  part 
in  the  Indian  war,  calling  out  from  St.  Clair  the  remark :  "  I 
don't  know  how  gentlemen  account  for  these  things  to  them- 
selves ; "  and  afterward  he  became  a  Virginia  magistrate  for 
the  County  of  Augusta. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Revolution  the  dispute  between  the 
two  States  threatened  danger  to  the  patriot  cause.  The  sub- 
ject did  not  come  before  Congress  as  a  body,  but,  July  25, 
1775,  the  members  of  Congress  united  in  the  following  rec- 
ommendation to  the  people  living  in  the  disputed  territory  : 
"  We  recommend  it  to  you  that  all  bodies  of  armed  men, 
kept  up  by  either  party,  be  dismissed  ;  and  that  all  those  on 
either  side  who  are  in  confinement,  or  on  bail,  for  taking  part 
in  the  contest,  be  discharged."1  And  this  was  the  end  of 
active  strife. 

1  St  Clair  Papers,  I.,  361. 


THE  THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  109 

In  1 779  commissioners  appointed  by  the  two  States  met  at 
Baltimore  to  agree  upon  the  common  boundaries  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia.  In  the  ensuing  correspondence  the  Penn- 
sylvania commissioners  had  much  to  say  of  "  the  beginning 
of  the  fortieth  degree,"  the  Virginia  commissioners  much  of 
the  twelve-mile  circle.  On  both  sides  there  was  an  evident 
desire  to  end  the  dispute.  Various  lines  were  proposed  and 
rejected.  On  August  31  the  commissioners  signed  this  agree- 
ment :  "  To  extend  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  due  west  five 
degrees  of  longitude,  to  be  computed  from  the  River  Dela- 
ware, for  the  southern  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  that  a 
meridian  line  drawn  from  the  western  extremity  thereof  to 
the  northern  limit  of  the  said  State  be  the  western  boundary 
of  Pennsylvania  forever."  :  This  contract  was  duly  ratified 
by  the  legislatures  of  the  two  States.  In  1785  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  was  extended,  and  the  southwestern  corner  of 
Pennsylvania  established.  The  "  Pan-handle"  is  what  was  left 
of  Virginia  east  of  the  Ohio  River  and  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  after  the  boundary  was  run  from  this  point  to 
Lake  Erie  in  1786." 

Ere  this  Virginia  had  acknowledged,  in  her  constitution 
of  1776,  the  validity  of  the  grants  made  at  her  expense  so 
far  as  the  shore  States  are  concerned  : 

"  The  territories,  contained  within  the  charters,  erecting  the 
colonies  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  North  and  South  Carolina, 
are  hereby  ceded,  released,  and  forever  confirmed  to  the  people 
of  these  Colonies  respectively,  with  all  the  rights  of  property, 
jurisdiction,  and  government,  and  all  other  rights  whatsoever, 
which  might,  at  any  time  heretofore,  have  been  claimed  by 
Virginia,  except  the  free  navigation  and  use  of  the  rivers  Pato- 

1  The  correspondence  is  found  in  X.    Hening's   Statutes  of  Virginia. 

*  "When  the  State  of  Ohio  was  formed,  in  1802,  the  Pan-handle  first  showed 
its  beautiful  proportions  on  the  map  of  the  United  States.  It  received  its  name 
in  legislative  debate  from  Hon.  John  McMillan,  delegate  from  Brooke  County, 
to  match  the  Accomac  projection,  which  he  dubbed  the  Spoon-handle." — Cregh. 
Hist.  Wash.  Co.,  Pa.,  quoted  by  Butterfield.  Crawford's  Expedition,  14,  note. 


IIO  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

maque  and  Pokomoke,  with  the  property  of  the  Virginia  shores 
and  strands,  bordering  on  either  of  the  said  rivers,  and  all  im- 
provements, which  have  been,  or  shall  be  made  thereon." 

The  most  serious  of  all  the  disputes  that  originated  in  the 
grant  to  William  Penn  was  that  with  Connecticut ;  a  dispute 
that,  in  the  words  of  a  Pennsylvania  writer,  "  was  over  the 
political  jurisdiction  and  right  of  soil  in  a  tract  of  country 
containing  more  than  5,000,000  acres  of  lands ; "  that  "  in- 
volved the  lives  of  hundreds,  was  the  ruin  of  thousands,  and 
cost  the  State  millions  ;  "  that  "  wore  out  one  entire  genera- 
tion;" that  "evoked  strong  partisanship,"  was  "urged,  on 
both  sides,  by  the  highest  skill  of  statesmen  and  lawyers," 
and  was  "  righteously  settled  in  the  end."  ' 

The  grant  made  to  Penn,  carried  to  latitude  43°  north, 
jumped  half  a  dozen  New  England  charters ;  carried  to  42° 
north,  it  jumped  all  those  in  which  Connecticut  was  inter- 
ested, and  notably  the  one  given  by  Charles  II.  to  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  Connecticut  in  1662.  West  of  the 
Delaware,  south  of  the  forty-second  parallel,  north  of  the 
forty-first,  and  east  of  the  western  limit  of  Pennsylvania,  was 
the  tract  of  5,000,000  acres  that  the  two  colonies  claimed  ;  a 
tract  full  of  coal,  iron,  and  oil,  and  of  great  fertility.  Appar- 
ently the  earliest  intimation  that  anybody  in  Connecticut 
was  thinking  of  these  Western  lands  is  found  in  a  letter 
written  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  1720,  by  Governor  Salton- 
stall :  "  On  the  west  the  province  of  New  York  have  carried 
their  claim  and  government  through  this  colony  from  north 
to  south,  and  cut  us  asunder  twenty  miles  east  of  the  Hud- 
son." 

New  Haven  had  taken  an  early  interest  in  the  Delaware 
region.  At  one  time  there  was  a  considerable  probability  that 
the  major  part  of  the  town  would  go  there  in  a  body;  and  Mr. 


1  Hoyt :  Brief  of  a  Title  in  the  Seventeen  Townships  in  the  County  of  Lu- 
zerne,  5. 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  Ill 

Levermore  says  that  after  1666  the  New  Haven  of  Davenport 
and  Eaton  must  be  sought  upon  the  banks  of  the  Passaic.1 

Following  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  there  was  a  great 
outburst  of  interest  in  the  West,  and  particularly  in  Virginia 
and  Connecticut ;  the  first  finding  her  "  West  "  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  and  the  second  hers  in  the  Susquehanna  country. 
Connecticut  was  now  well  filled  up  with  people,  according  to 
the  ideas  of  those  days,  and  a  scheme  to  settle  the  colony's 
lands  west  of  New  York  was  thrown  before  the  public  in 
1753.  One  hundred  petitioners,  many  of  them  of  high  stand- 
ing in  the  colony,  asked  the  General  Court  for  a  grant  of  land. 
The  Susquehanna  Company  was  organized  to  promote  the 
scheme;  and  in  1755  the  General  Court  recommended  it  to 
the  favor  of  the  king. 

The  company  sent  its  agents  to  Albany  in  1754,  when  the 
Albany  Congress  was  in  session,  where  they  purchased  from 
certain  Iroquois  chiefs,  for  £2,000,  a  tract  of  land  lying  within 
the  Connecticut  parallels,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in 
length,  from  ten  miles  east  of  the  Susquehanna  westward. 

Another  important  thing  was  done  at  Albany  in  1754. 
The  Congress  itself,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  not  even  the 
Pennsylvania  Commissioners  objecting,  adopted  a  series  of 
resolutions  declaring  the  validity  of  the  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  claims  west  of  the  Delaware,  and  also  of  the 
western  claims  of  Virginia.  Besides,  the  "  Plan  of  Union  " 
recommended  by  the  Congress  provided  a  machinery  for 
carrying  on  Western  colonization ;  and  Franklin,  in  his  notes 
on  the  "plan,"  remarked  that  "  the  from  'sea  to  sea'  colonies, 
having  boundaries  three  thousand  or  four  thousand  miles  in 
length  to  one  or  two  hundred  in  breadth,  must  in  time  be  re- 
duced to  domains  more  convenient  for  the  common  purposes 
of  government."2 

In  1755  the  Susquehanna  Company  sent  out  surveyors  to 


1  The  Republic  of  New  Haven,  1 13-120. 

2  Sparks:  Writings  of  Franklin,  IIL,  32-55. 


112  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

survey  the  lands  on  the  Lacka waxen  and  in  the  Wyoming  Val- 
ley. The  colonization-fever  rose  so  high  that  a  second  com- 
pany, called  the  Delaware  Company,  was  organized,  and  this 
also  made  a  purchase  of  lands  from  the  Indians.  Notwith- 
standing the  French  and  Indian  war,  a  settlement  was  made 
on  the  Delaware  in  1757,  and  another  on  the  Susquehanna  in 
1762.  In  1768  the  elder  company  directed  the  survey  of  five 
townships  in  the  heart  of  the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  in  the 
same  year  Captain  Zebulon  Butler,  with  forty  men,  took  pos- 
session of  one  of  them,  taking  the  precaution  to  build  a  fort 
as  a  protection  against  the  Indians,  and  possibly  the  Pennsyl- 
vanians  also. 

Thus  far  the  Penns  had  done  nothing  but  object  to  the 
Susquehanna  Company  and  its  aims.  Up  to  1769  not  a  single 
Pennsylvania  settler  was  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  plantings  that  the  Connecticut  men  had  made.  But  now 
the  proprietors  began  to  bestir  themselves.  They  improved 
the  opportunity  furnished  by  the  Congress  at  Fort  Stanwix,  in 
1768,  to  buy  "  of  the  Indians  all  that  part  of  the  province  of 
Pennsylvania  not  heretofore  purchased  of  the  Indians,"  and 
this  included  the  whole  Connecticut  claim.  They  also  began 
to  lease  lands  in  the  Connecticut  district  on  the  condition  that 
the  lessees  should  defend  them  against  the  Connecticut  claim- 
ants ;  and  the  attempt  of  these  lessees  to  oust  the  settlers 
already  in  possession,  backed  by  the  Pennsylvania  authorities, 
brought  on  a  skirmish  of  writs  and  arrests  that  soon  led  to  the 
first  "  Pennamite  and  Yankee  War,"  in  which  the  lessees  liter- 
ally, and  the  settlers  figuratively,  spread  out  as  their  respec- 
tive banners  the  Penn  leases  and  the  charter  of  1662. 

Connecticut  men  pressed  into  the  territory  in  increasing 
numbers.  The  accomplished  historian  of  Windham  County 
says  :  "  The  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  mildness  of  the  climate, 
the  beauty  of  the  country,  and  the  abundance  of  its  resources 
far  excelled  expectations ;  and  such  glowing  reports  came  back 
to  the  rocky  farms  of  Windham  County,  that  emigration  raged 
for  a  time  like  an  epidemic  and  seemed  likely  to  sweep  away 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  113 

a  great  part  of  the  population." '  Hitherto  the  Connecticut 
government  had  done  nothing  to  promote  the  Susquehanna 
and  Delaware  schemes,  but  commended  the  first  to  the  good 
graces  of  the  king.  Even  in  1771  Governor  Trumbull,  on 
being  interrogated  by  the  authorities  at  Philadelphia,  wrote 
that  the  persons  engaged  therein  had  no  order  or  direction 
from  him,  or  from  the  General  Assembly  for  their  proceed- 
ings, and  that  the  Assembly,  he  was  confident,  would  "  never 
countenance  any  violent,  much  less  hostile,  measures  in  vin- 
dicating the  rights  which  the  Susquehanna  Company  sup- 
posed they  had  to  lands  in  that  part  of  the  country  within 
the  limits  of  the  charter  of  their  colony."  As  the  State 
did  not  recognize  them,  and  as  they  could  not  get  on  with- 
out government,  the  colonists  proceeded  to  organize  a  gov- 
ernment of  their  own  after  the  purest  democratic  model. 
Townships,  settlements,  fortifications,  taxes,  civil  and  criminal 
legal  processes,  and  a  militia,  were  provided  for.  But  the 
colony  had  taken  too  strong  a  hold  of  Connecticut  for  the 
government  to  disown  it,  even  if  the  charter-claim  to  the 
country  had  been  much  weaker  than  it  was.  So  the  General 
Court  resolved,  in  1773,  "That  this  Assembly,  at  this  time, 
will  assist,  and  in  some  proper  way  support  their  claim  to 
those  lands  contained  within  the  limits  and  boundaries  of 
their  charter  which  are  westward  of  the  province  of  New 
York."  Commissioners  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  to  arrange 
matters  with  the  Penns,  if  possible,  but  they  returned  empty- 
handed.  So  the  Assembly,  in  17/4,  erected  the  territory  from 
the  Delaware  to  a  line  fifteen  miles  west  of  the  Susquehanna, 
into  the  town  of  Westmoreland,  attaching  it  to  Litchfield 
County,  Connecticut ;  and  two  years  later  it  organized  the 
same  territory  into  the  County  of  Westmoreland.  The  extem- 
porized government  of  the  settlers  now  gave  place  to  the 
government  set  up  by  the  mother  colony.  Thus  the  colonists 
and  Connecticut  carried  things  with  a  strong  hand  down  to 

1  Miss  Larned :  History  of  Windham  County,  IL,  49-51. 
8 


114  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  Revolution,  when  the  population  numbered  three  thou- 
sand. How  great  the  promise  was  for  a  new  Connecticut  in 
Northern  Pennsylvania,  a  Connecticut  writer  shall  tell. 

"  Connecticut  laws  and  taxes  were  enforced  regularly ;  Con- 
necticut courts  alone  were  in  session  ;  and  the  levies  from  the 
district  formed  the  Twenty-fourth  Connecticut  Regiment  in  the 
Continental  armies.  The  sordid,  grasping,  long-leasing  policy 
of  the  Penns  had  never  been  able  to  stand  a  moment  before  the 
oncoming  wave  of  Connecticut  democracy,  with  its  individual 
land  ownership,  its  liberal  local  government,  and  the  personal 
incentive  offered  to  individuals  by  its  town  system.  So  far  as 
the  Penns  were  concerned,  the  Connecticut  town  system  sim- 
ply swept  over  them,  and  hardly  thought  of  them  as  it  went. 
But  for  the  Revolution,  the  check  occasioned  by  the  massacre, 
and  the  appearance  of  a  popular  government  in  place  of  the 
Penns,  nothing  could  have  prevented  the  establishment  of  Con- 
necticut's authority  over  all  the  regions  embraced  in  her  West- 
ern claims."  ' 

But  the  Penns  were  not  idle.  In  1761  they  obtained  from 
Attorney-General  Pratt,  afterward  Lord  Camden,  an  opinion 
that  firmly  supported  their  cause.  Connecticut,  too,  sought 
unto  men  learned  in  the  law.  She  obtained  from  Lord 
Thurlow,  Wedderburn,  afterward  Lord  Loughborough,  Chan- 
cellor Dunning,  and  Mr.  Jackson  the  counsel  that  she 
wanted.  The  Penns  determined  at  last  to  resort  to  that  argu- 
ment which  their  great  ancestor  had  so  much  deprecated.  In 
1772  one  Colonel  Plunkett,  under  orders  from  the  government, 
destroyed  some  Connecticut  settlements  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Susquehanna;  and  late  in  1775,  with  a  strong  force,  he 
attempted  to  drive  the  settlers  out  of  the  Wyoming  Valley, 
but  was  repulsed.  At  this  point  the  Continental  Congress 
broke  in  upon  the  dispute,  in  the  name  of  the  common  cause 
against  the  mother  country,  with  a  "  whereas  "  that  the  quar- 

1  Johnston  :  Connecticut,  278. 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  11$ 

rel,  if  continued,  would  be  productive  of  consequences  very 
prejudicial  to  the  common  interest  of  the  colonies,  and  with 
an  urgent  recommendation  "  that  the  contending  parties  im- 
mediately cease  all  hostilities,  and  avoid  every  appearance  of 
force,  until  the  dispute  can  be  legally  decided."1  This  re- 
monstrance produced  the  desired  effect. 

The  VVestmorelanders  stood  as  an  outpost  in  the  war 
against  Great  Britain,  and  in  1778,  when  nearly  all  the  able- 
bodied  men  were  absent  in  the  army,  two  savages,  Butler  the 
Tory  and  Brandt  the  Indian,  wrought  at  Wyoming  a  deed  of 
blood  that,  wherever  told  during  a  hundred  years,  has  never 
failed  to  move  horror  and  pity.  The  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren who  then  fell  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  or  perished 
miserably  in  the  wilderness  from  hunger,  disease,  or  fatigue, 
were  not  Pennsylvanians.  The  Gertrudes  of  Wyoming  were 
all  Connecticut  girls.  The  massacre  materially  strengthened 
Pennsylvania's  case  :  a  Westmoreland  containing  thousands 
of  thriving  people  was  one  thing ;  a  Westmoreland  that  was 
waste  and  desolate,  quite  another. 

The  parties  had  submitted  the  dispute  to  the  King  in  Coun- 
cil, but  the  war  rendered  the  appeal  to  that  fountain  of  jus- 
tice nugatory.  Article  IX.  of  the  Confederation  vested  juris- 
diction over  such  disputes  between  States  in  Congress.  So, 
as  the  war  was  now  drawing  to  a  close,  Pennsylvania  called 
upon  that  arbiter  to  decide  between  the  contestants.  A  Fed- 
eral court  was  accordingly  organized  to  try  the  issue ;  and 
this  court,  at  Trenton,  December  30,  1782,  after  a  full  hear- 
ing, rendered  the  following  decision  : 

"We  are  unanimously  of  opinion  that  the  State  of  Connect- 
icut has  no  right  to  the  lands  in  controversy. 

"  We  are  also  unanimously  of  opinion  that  the  jurisdiction 
and  pre-emption  of  all  the  territory  lying  within  the  charter- 
boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  now  claimed  by  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  do  of  right  belong  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania."  * 

'Journals  of  Congress,  I.,  211.  2  Ibid.,  IV.,  140. 


Il6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Ten  or  more  years  after  the  trial,  it  became  known  that  the 
court  agreed  beforehand  "  that  the  reasons  for  the  determi- 
nation should  never  be  given,"  and  "  that  the  minority  should 
concede  the  determination  as  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
court."  The  first  of  the  two  rules  suggests  at  once,  what,  in- 
deed, has  always  been  understood  to  be  true,  that  the  court 
did  not  consider  the  points  of  law  involved  at  all,  but  that 
the  case,  as  lawyers  say,  "  went  off  on  State  reasons." 

The  Trenton  decision,  while  final  and  conclusive  as  to  the 
public  corporate  rights  of  Connecticut,  in  no  way  touched  the 
land-owners,  who,  the  war  over,  began  to  find  their  way  back 
to  their  old  homes.  These  were  left  to  the  justice  or  mercy  of 
Pennsylvania ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  treatment  they 
received  sometimes  made  them  think  more  kindly  of  Butler 
and  of  Brandt.  The  Trenton  judges  all  commended  the  un- 
fortunate holders  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  victor 
State,  urging  that  they  should  be  quieted  in  all  their  claims 
by  an  act  of  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  right  of  soil,  as  de- 
rived from  Connecticut,  should  be  held  sacred.  There  now 
ensued  that  generation  of  legislation  and  litigation,  "  Yankee 
claims,"  and  "  accommodation"  and  "  intrusion  "  acts,  of  Ethan 
Allen  and  his  Vermont  methods,  of  plans  to  organize  a  new 
State  and  to  force  its  recognition  upon  Pennsylvania  and  Con- 
gress, and  reckless  agitation  which  together  make  up  the  sec- 
ond "  Pennamite  and  Yankee  War."  The  "  Accommodation 
Act,"  once  repealed  and  then  re-enacted,  put  an  end  to  the 
strife. 

Had  the  court  of  1782  decided  this  issue  the  other  way, 
Connecticut  could  not  permanently  have  retained  the  country ; 
a  State  of  Westmoreland  would  have  been  the  almost  certain 
result.  The  conviction  that  one  State  within  the  present  lim- 
its of  Pennsylvania  would  be  better  than  two  was  probably 
one  of  the  State  reasons  that  led  the  court  to  its  conclusion. 
However,  when  the  second  "  Pennamite  and  Yankee  War" 
was  in  progress,  and  still  more  when  it  was  over,  Connecticut 
men  flowed  into  the  Northern  belt  of  Pennsylvania,  where 


THE   THIRTEEN    COLONIES.  1 1/ 

their  presence  is  seen  to-day  in  New  England  names,  towns, 
and  manners. 

The  decision  of  1782.  was  wider  than  the  case  submitted, 
applying  as  it  did  to  the  whole  Connecticut  claim  within  the 
charter-limits  of  Pennsylvania  ;  but  Connecticut  made  no  ob- 
jection on  that  score.  Fortunately  for  her,  Pennsylvania  had 
a  definite  boundary  on  the  west.  Carrying  her  stake  west- 
ward, she  resolutely  drove  it  into  the  ground  five  degrees  west 
of  the  Delaware ;  that  is,  she  asserted  her  right  to  the  strip  of 
land  lying  between  41°  and  42°  2!  west  of  Pennsylvania  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  which,  by  the  treaties  of  1763  and  1783, 
had  taken  the  place  of  the  South  Sea  as  the  western  boundary. 
In  1783  Governor  Trumbull  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding 
all  persons  to  settle  on  those  lands  without  permission  first 
obtained  of  the  General  Assembly. 

The  good  grace  with  which  Connecticut  submitted  to  the 
Trenton  decision  has  excited  the  surprise  of  historians,  who 
have  cast  about  for  the  cause.  Governor  Hoyt  supposes 
"  that  Connecticut  had  prearranged  the  case  with  Pennsylvania 
and  Congress,  and  that  out  of  the  arrangement  she  was  to  get 
the  Western  Reserve,"  and  refers  for  proof  to  a  congressional 
report  on  finance,  made  a  month  after  the  decision,  which 
says  :  "  Virginia  and  Connecticut  have  also  made  cessions,  the 
acceptance  of  which,  for  particular  reasons,  have  been  de- 
layed." *  Mr.  Johnston  also  supposes  "  that  Connecticut  had 
reasons  apart  from  the  justice  of  the  decision,"  and  he  finds 
them  in  the  relation  of  the  Western  lands  to  the  question  of 
American  nationality.2  The  suggestion  is  ventured  that  if 
Connecticut  was  actuated  by  any  reason  other  than  deference 
to  the  authority  of  the  Trenton  tribunal,  it  was  a  desire  to 
strengthen  her  position  west  of  the  Pennsylvania  line.  She 
would  evidently  be  better  able  to  deal  with  the  new  dispute 
if  the  old  one  was  off  her  hands. 

The  Pennsylvania  construction  of  the  charter  of  1681  was 

1  Brief  of  Title,  etc.,  46,  47.  *  Connecticut,  280,  281. 


Il8  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

wholly  satisfactory  to  New  York,  when  the  time  came  for  her 
to  look  after  the  country  west  of  the  Delaware.  That  con- 
struction saved  her  a  dispute,  and,  possibly,  a  large  extent  of 
her  present  territory  as  well.1  Commissioners  appointed  by 
the  two  colonies  fixed  the  northeastern  boundary  of  Penn- 
sylvania on  an  island  in  the  Delaware  in  1774;  the  line  west 
of  that  point  was  surveyed  in  1786-87,  and  ratified  in  1789. 

The  northern  boundary  of  Connecticut  is  42°  2',  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  New  York  42° ;  and  the  overlapping  tract, 
called  at  the  time  "  the  Gore,"  led  to  a  controversy  between 
the  two  States.  In  1795  Connecticut,  for  the  consideration  of 
$40,000,  quit-claimed  to  Ward  and  Halsey  all  her  right  and 
title  to  the  said  strip  of  land.  Those  to  whom  they  sold  the 
lands  found  settlers  with  New  York  titles  already  in  posses- 
sion. In  1796  suits  were  brought  in  the  United  States  Cir- 
cuit Court  to  eject  the  New  York  claimants.  Before  the 
cases  were  heard,  Connecticut  wholly  renounced  her  right  and 
title  to  land  or  jurisdiction  west  of  the  line  of  1733,  which 
threw  the  suitors  out  of  court.  This  act  of  renunciation  led 
to  long  and  bitter  murmuring  on  the  part  of  those  holding 
the  Ward  and  Halsey  titles,  which  was  finally  quieted,  partly 
by  time  and  partly  by  a  compensation  voted  from  the  State 
treasury. 

Massachusetts  fared  much  better  than  Connecticut  in  main- 
taining her  Western  title.  Her  cession  of  1785  to  the  nation 
will  be  treated  in  another  place ;  but  here  it  is  important  to 
remark  that  that  cession  did  not  touch  her  contest  with  New 
York  for  the  lands  within  her  charter-limits  west  of  the  Dela- 
ware and  east  of  the  north  and  south  cession-line.  That 
issue  was  compromised  in  1786.  Massachusetts  surrendered 
to  New  York  all  her  claim  to  the  jurisdiction  over  said  tract ; 
and  New  York  surrendered  to  Massachusetts  all  claim  to  the 
lands  within  the  Massachusetts  limits  lying  west  of  a  line 


1  Maps  of  the  middle  of  the  last  century  often  bound  Pennsylvania  north  by 
parallel  43°. 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES.  119 

running  from  the  eighty-second  mile-post  west  of  the  north- 
east corner  of  Pennsylvania  north  to  Sodus  Bay  in  Lake  On- 
tario. This  tract,  the  southeast  corner  of  which  is  a  little 
southwest  of  Elmira,  embraced  several  million  acres  of  land, 
including  the  famous  Genesee  Valley. 

In  June,  1788,  Congress  instructed  the  Geographer  to  run 
the  meridian  by  which  New  York  and  Massachusetts  had 
limited  themselves  on  the  west,  and  to  ascertain  the  quantity 
of  land  in  the  triangular  tract  lying  west  of  said  meridian  and 
north  of  parallel  42°  north.  This  tract  was  sold  to  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  the  same  year.  The  act  of  Congress  author- 
izing the  President  to  issue  the  letters  patent  bears  date,  Janu- 
ary 3,  1792. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Stevens  writes :  "  Dear  fussy  old  Richard 
Hakluyt,  the  most  learned  geographer  of  his  age,  but  with 
certain  crude  and  warped  notions  of  the  South  Sea  '  down  the 
back  of  Florida,'  which  became  worked  into  many  of  King 
James's  and  King  Charles's  charters,  and  the  many  grants  that 
grew  out  of  them,  was  the  unconscious  parent  of  many  geo- 
graphical puzzles."  '  Puzzles  there  are  in  abundance,  whether 
Hakluyt  was  the  parent  of  them  or  not.  The  principal  of 
these  puzzles  on  the  Atlantic  slope  we  have  sought  to  solve. 
In  future  chapters  we  shall  consider  the  similar  ones  found  in 
the  Northwest. 

1  Narrative  and  Critical  History,  V.,  180. 


VIII. 

THE  WESTERN  LAND  POLICY  OF  THE  BRITISH 
GOVERNMENT  FROM   1763  TO  1775. 

THE  ink  with  which  the  Treaty  of  Paris  was  written  was 
hardly  dry  when  Great  Britain  took  a  very  important  step  in 
the  line  of  a  new  land-policy.  Just  how  much  this  step  meant 
at  the  time  is  a  matter  of  dispute,  but  the  consequences  flow- 
ing from  it  were  such  as  to  mark  it  a  distinct  new  departure. 

Previous  to  the  war,  England  had  virtually  affirmed  the 
principle  that  the  discoverer  and  occupant  of  a  coast  was  en- 
titled to  all  the  country  back  of  it ;  she  had  carried  her  colo- 
nial boundaries  through  the  continent  from  sea  to  sea ;  and, 
as  against  France,  had  maintained  the  original  chartered  lim- 
its of  her  colonies.  Moreover,  the  grant  to  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany in  1 748  proves  that  she  then  had  no  thought  of  prevent- 
ing over-mountain  settlements,  or  of  limiting  the  expansion 
of  the  colonies  in  that  direction.  But  now  that  France  had 
retired  from  the  field  vanquished,  England  began  to  see 
things  in  new  relations.  In  fact,  the  situation  was  materially 
changed.  She  was  left  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  east- 
ern half  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Canada  and  Florida  were 
British  dependencies,  and  governments  must  be  provided  for 
them.  The  Indians  of  the  West  were  discontented  and  an- 
gry ;  and,  strange  to  say,  at  the  very  moment  that  they  lost 
the  support  of  France,  they  formed,  under  Pontiac,  a  wide- 
spread combination  against  the  British  power.  Then  the 
strength  and  resource  that  the  colonies  had  shown  in  the 
war  had  both  pleased  and  disturbed  the  mother  country ; 


LAND    POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH    GOVERNMENT.    121 

pleased  her  because  they  contributed  materially  to  the  defeat 
of  France,  and  disturbed  her  because  they  portended  a  still 
larger  growth  of  that  spirit  of  independence  which  had  already 
become  somewhat  embarrassing.  The  eagerness  with  which 
the  Virginians  and  Pennsylvanians  were  preparing  to  enter 
the  Ohio  Valley  in  the  years  1748-1754  told  England  what 
might  be  expected  now  that  the  whole  country  lay  open  to 
the  Mississippi.  The  home  government  undertook  to  meet 
the  occasion  with  the  royal  proclamation  of  October  7,  1763. 

After  congratulating  his  subjects  upon  the  great  advantages 
that  must  accrue  to  their  trade,  manufactures,  and  navigation 
from  the  new  acquisitions  of  territory,  His  Majesty  proceeded 
to  constitute  four  new  governments,  three  of  them  on  the 
continent  and  one  in  the  West  Indies.  His  new  territories 
on  the  Gulf  he  divided  into  East  Florida  and  West  Florida, 
by  the  Appalachicola  River ;  separating  them  from  his  pos- 
sessions to  the  north  by  the  thirty-first  parallel  from  the 
Mississippi  River  to  the  Chattahoochee,  by  that  stream  to  its 
confluence  with  the  Flint,  by  a  straight  line  drawn  from  this 
point  to  the  source  of  the  St.  Marys,  and  then  by  the  St. 
Marys  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  next  year,  in  consequence 
of  representations  made  to  him  that  there  were  considerable 
settlements  north  of  the  thirty-first  parallel  which  should  be 
included  in  West  Florida,  he  drew  the  northern  boundary  of 
that  province  through  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo.  The  terri- 
tory lying  between  the  Altamaha  and  St.  Marys  Rivers,  so 
long  the  subject  of  dispute  between  Spain  and  England,  as 
well  as  between  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  was  given  to 
Georgia.  It  was  the  proclamation  of  1763  that  first  defined 
what  afterward  became  the  first  southern  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  As  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  them 
again,  it  will  be  well  to  give  the  boundaries  of  Quebec  in  the 
words  of  the  royal  proclamation. 

"The  Government  of  Quebec,  bounded  on  the  Labrador 
coast  by  the  River  St.  John  [Saguenay],  and  from  thence  to  a 


122  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

line  drawn  from  the  head  of  that  river,  through  the  Lake  St. 
John,  to  the  south  end  of  the  Lake  Nipissim  ;  from  whence 
the  said  line  crossing  the  River  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lake 
Cham  plain,  in  forty-five  degrees  of  north  latitude,  passes  along 
the  highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves 
into  the  said  River  St.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the 
sea  ;  and  also  along  the  north  coast  of  the  Bale  des  Chaleurs, 
and  -the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  Cape  Rosieres, 
and  from  thence  crossing  the  mouth  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence 
by  the  west  end  of  the  Island  of  Anticosti,  terminates  at  the 
aforesaid  River  St.  John."  * 

The  king  gives  directions  for  constituting  the  governments 
of  the  new  provinces  on  the  principle  of  representation.  He 
also  instructs  the  royal  governors  to  grant  lands  to  the  officers 
and  men  who  have  served  in  the  army  and  navy  in  the  war, 
according  to  a  prescribed  schedule. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  country  west  of  the  mountains, 
from  parallel  31°  to  the  lakes,  was  not  embraced  within  the 
new  governments.  But  this  was  not  due  to  a  sensitive  regard 
for  the  chartered  rights  of  the  old  colonies,  as  the  following 
paragraph  defining  the  new  departure  shows : 

"  We  do,  therefore,  with  the  advice  of  our  privy  council, 
declare  it  to  be  our  royal  will  and  pleasure,  that  no  governor 
or  commander-in-chief,  in  any  of  our  Colonies  of  Quebec,  East 
Florida,  or  West  Florida,  do  presume,  upon  any  pretense  what- 
ever, to  grant  warrants  of  survey,  or  pass  any  patents  for  lands 
beyond  the  bounds  of  their  respective  governments,  as  de- 
scribed in  their  commissions  ;  as  also  that  no  governor  or  com- 
mander-in-chief of  our  other  colonies  or  plantations  in  Amer- 
ica, do  presume,  for  the  present,  and  until  our  further  pleasure 
be  known,  to  grant  warrants  of  survey  or  pass  patents  for  any 
lands  beyond  the  heads  or  sources  of  any  of  the  rivers  which 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  the  west  or  northwest ;  or 
upon  any  lands  whatever,  which  not  having  been  ceded  or  pur- 
chased by  us,"  etc. 

1  The  Annual  Register,  1763. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.     123 

Just  what  was  the  meaning  of  this  prohibition  has  been  a 
matter  of  dispute  from  that  day  to  this ;  the  opinions  of  the 
disputants  depending,  often  at  least,  upon  the  relation  of 
those  opinions  to  other  matters  of  interest.  Solicitude  for 
the  Indians,  and  anxiety  for  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  colo- 
nies, are  the  reasons  alleged  in  the  proclamation  itself.  The 
"  whereas  "  introducing  the  proclamation  says  it  is  essential 
to  the  royal  interest  and  the  security  of  the  colonies  that  the 
tribes  of  Indians  living  under  the  king's  protection  shall  not 
be  molested  or  disturbed  in  the  possession  of  such  parts  of 
his  dominions  and  territories  as,  not  having  been  ceded  to  or 
purchased  by  him,  are  reserved  to  them  as  their  hunting 
grounds ;  and  a  declaration  follows  the  prohibition  that  it  is 
his  royal  will  and  pleasure,  for  the  present,  to  reserve  under 
his  sovereign  protection  and  dominion,  for  the  use  of  the  said 
Indians,  all  the  lands  within  the  new  governments,  within  the 
limits  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  beyond  the  sources 
of  the  rivers  falling  into  the  sea  from  the  west  and  north- 
west. The  king  strictly  forbids  his  loving  subjects  making 
any  purchases  or  settlements  whatever,  or  taking  possession 
of  any  of  the  lands  described,  without  his  special  leave  and 
license ;  and  he  further  enjoins  all  persons  who  have  seated 
themselves  upon  any  of  the  lands  so  reserved  to  the  Indians, 
forthwith  to  abandon  them.  If  at  any  time  the  Indians  are 
inclined  to  dispose  of  their  lands,  they  shall  be  purchased 
only  in  the  king's  name,  by  the  governor  or  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  colony  within  which  the  lands  lie.  The  procla- 
mation winds  up  with  some  wholesome  regulations  respecting 
the  Indian  trade. 

No  doubt  a  desire  to  conciliate  the  Indians  was  one  of  the 
motives  that  led  to  the  prohibition  of  1763.  But  was  it  the 
only  motive  ?  Was  it  also  the  royal  intention  permanently  to 
sever  the  lands  beyond  the  sources  of  the  rivers  flowing  into 
the  Atlantic  from  the  old  colonies  within  whose  charter-lim- 
its they  lay  ?  and,  when  the  time  should  come,  to  cut  them 
up  into  new  and  independent  governments  ? 


124  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  The  Annual  Register"  for  1763  says  many  reasons  may 
be  assigned  for  the  prohibition.  It  states  the  necessity  of 
quieting  the  Indians,  and  then  presents  the  desirability  of 
limiting  the  "  from  sea  to  sfca  "  boundaries. 

"  Another  reason,  we  suppose,  why  no  disposition  has  been 
made  of  the  inland  country,  was,  that  the  charters  of  many  of 
our  old  colonies  give  them,  with  very  few  exceptions,  no  other 
bounds  to  the  westward  but  the  South  Sea  ;  and  consequently 
these  grants  comprehended  almost  everything  we  have  con- 
quered. These  charters  were  given  when  this  continent  was 
little  known  and  little  valued.  They  were  then  scarce  ac- 
quainted with  any  other  limits  than  the  limits  of  America  it- 
self ;  and  they  were  prodigal  of  what  they  considered  as  of  no 
great  importance.  The  colonies  settled  under  royal  govern- 
ment have,  generally,  been  laid  out  much  in  the  same  manner  ; 
and  though  the  difficulties  which  arise  on  this  quarter  are  not 
so  great  as  in  the  former,  they  are  yet  sufficiently  embarrassing. 
Nothing  can  be  more  inconvenient,  or  can  be  attended  with 
more  absurd  consequences,  than  to  admit  the  execution  of  the 
powers  in  those  grants  and  distributions  of  territory  in  all  their 
extent.  But  where  the  western  boundary  of  each  colony  ought 
to  be  settled,  is  a  matter  which  must  admit  of  great  dispute,  and 
can,  to  all  appearance,  only  be  finally  adjusted  by  the  interpo- 
sition of  Parliament."  ' 

Obviously,  Edmund  Burke,  or  whoever  wrote  the  "  Regis- 
ter's" review  for  that  year,  thought  the  prohibition  meant 
something  more  than  simply  to  guard  the  rights  of  the  Ind- 
ians. Washington,  on  the  other  hand,  wrote  his  Western 
land-agent,  Colonel  Crawford,  in  1767  :  "  I  can  never  look 
upon  that  proclamation  in  any -other  light  (but  this  I  say  be- 
tween ourselves)  than  a  temporary  expedient  to  quiet  the 
minds  of  the  Indians.  It  must  fall,  of  course,  in  a  few  years, 
especially  when  those  Indians  consent  to  our  occupying  the 

1  The  Annual  Register,  1763,  20,  21. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.    12$ 

lands."  :  The  authors  of  the  Report  on  the  Territorial  Limits 
of  the  United  States,  made  to  Congress,  January  8,  1782,  ex- 
amined the  proclamation  very  thoroughly,  and  came  to  the 
same  conclusion  that  Washington  had  arrived  at  fifteen  years 
before.  They  declare  the  king's  object  to  have  been  "  to  keep 
the  Indians  in  peace,  not  to  relinquish  the  rights  accruing 
under  the  charters,  and  especially  that  of  pre-emption."8  Dr. 
Franklin  held  the  same  view,  as  we  shall  soon  see.  Mr.  Ban- 
croft says  the  West  "  was  shut  against  the  emigrant  from  fear 
that  colonies  in  so  remote  a  region  could  not  be  held  in  de- 
pendence. England,  by  war,  had  conquered  the  West,  and  a 
ministry  had  come  which  dared  not  make  use  of  the  con- 
quest." 3  No  matter  what  the  proclamation  meant,  it  was  a 
great  disappointment  to  the  colonies.  "  Wherein  are  we  bet- 
ter off,  as  respects  the  Western  country,"  they  said  in  sub- 
stance, "  than  we  were  before  the  war  ?  " 

No  man  of  his  time  more  thoroughly  comprehended  the 
Western  question  than  Dr.  Franklin.  Notices  of  his  princi- 
pal writings  on  the  subject  will  more  clearly  define  that  ques- 
tion, and  throw  much  light  on  its  shifting  phases. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  Plan  of  Union 
adopted  by  the  Albany  Congress  in  1754,  and  to  Franklin's 
exposition  of  the  same.  This  "  plan  "  placed  the  regulation 
of  the  Indian  trade,  the  purchasing  of  Indian  lands,  and  the 
planting  of  new  colonies  under  the  control  of  the  Union. 
Franklin  supported  this  part  of  the  scheme  with  the  obvious 
arguments.  A  single  colony  could  not  be  expected  to  extend 
itself  into  the  West ;  but  the  Union  might  establish  a  new 
colony  or  two,  greatly  to  the  security  of  the  frontiers,  to  in- 
crease of  population  and  trade,  and  to  breaking  the  French 
connections  between  Canada  and  Louisiana.4  The  "  from  sea 
to  sea  "  colonies  must  be  suitably  limited  on  the  west. 

Soon    after    the   Albany   Congress,    Franklin   wrote  his 

1  Butterfield  :  Washington-Crawford  Letters,  3. 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  III.,  154.  3  History,  IIL,  32. 

4  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Franklin,  III.,  32-55. 


126  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  Plan  for  Settling  two  Western  Colonies  in  North  America, 
with  Reasons  for  the  Plan."  He  says  the  country  back  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains  must  become,  perhaps  in  another  cen- 
tury, a  populous  and  powerful  dominion,  and  a  great  accession 
of  power  to  either  England  or  France.  If  the  English  delay 
to  settle  that  country,  great  inconveniences  and  mischiefs  will 
arise.  Confined  to  the  region  between  the  sea  and  the  moun- 
tains, they  cannot  much  more  increase  in  numbers  owing  to 
lack  of  room  and  subsistence.  The  French  will  increase  much 
more,  and  become  a  great  people  in  the  rear  of  the  English. 
He  therefore  recommends  that  the  English  take  immediate  pos- 
session of  the  country,  and  proceed  at  once  to  plant  two  strong 
colonies,  one  on  the  Ohio  and  one  on  Lake  Erie.  The  new 
colonies  will  soon  be  full  of  people ;  they  will  prevent  the  dis- 
asters sure  to  follow  if  the  French  are  allowed  to  have  their 
way  in  the  West ;  the  Ohio  country  will  be  a  good  base  for  op- 
erations against  Canada  and  Louisiana  in  case  of  war ;  and  the 
colonies  will  promote  the  increase  of  Englishmen,  of  English 
trade,  and  of  English  power.  Franklin  again  ^assumes  that 
the  "  from  sea  to  sea"  charters  are  still  in  force,  and  argues  that 
they  must  be  limited  by  the  Western  mountains.  The  tract 
closes  with  a  plea  for  urgency.1  War  with  the  French  had 
now  begun,  and  new  colonies  were  necessarily  postponed  until 
the  sword  should  decide  the  destiny  of  the  West ;  but  Frank- 
lin still  kept  the  subject  in  mind.  In  1756  he  wrote  to  Rev. 
George  Whitfield : 

"  I  sometimes  wish  that  you  and  I  were  jointly  employed  by 
the  Crown  to  settle  a  colony  on  the  Ohio.  I  imagine  that  we 
could  do  it  effectually,  and  without  putting  the  nation  to  much 
expense  ;  but  I  fear  we  shall  never  be  called  upon  for  such  a 
service.  What  a  glorious  thing  it  would  be  to  settle  in  that  fine 
country  a  large,  strong  body  of  religious  and  industrious  peo- 
ple !  What  a  security  to  the  other  colonies  and  advantage  to 
Britain,  by  increasing  her  people,  territory,  strength,  and  com- 

1  Sparks  :   III.,  69-77. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE  BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.    I2/ 

merce !  Might  it  not  greatly  facilitate  the  introduction  of  pure 
religion  among  the  heathen,  if  we  could,  by  such  a  colony,  show 
them  a  better  sample  of  Christians  than  they  commonly  see  in 
our  Indian  traders  ? — the  most  vicious  and  abandoned  wretches 
of  our  nation."  * 

Immediately  after  Wolfe's  victory  in  1759,  men  on  both 
sides  of  the  ocean  began  to  speculate  upon  the  terms  of  the 
peace  that  they  saw  must  soon  come.  It  seemed  inevitable 
that  England  would  be  able  to  dictate  her  own  terms  to  her 
old  enemy ;  and  the  question  arose,  what  territorial  indemni- 
ties and  securities  she  should  exact.  More  specifically,  the 
question  arose  whether  Canada  should  be  retained  or  return- 
ed to  France  in  exchange  for  Guadaloupe.  Two  or  three 
pamphlets  discussing  this  question  appeared  in  London.  To 
one  of  them,  that  advocated  the  surrender  of  Canada,  pub- 
lished without  a  name,  but  sometimes  ascribed  to  Edmund 
Burke,  Franklin  wrote  a  reply  that  he  entitled  "  The  Interest 
of  Great  Britain  Considered  with  Regard  to  the  Colonies 
and  the  Acquisition  of  Canada  and  Guadaloupe,"  but  that  is 
commonly  called  "  The  Canada  Pamphlet."  A  rapid  review 
of  this  vigorous  production  will  throw  much  light  upon  the 
state  of  opinion  touching  the  West  both  in  America  and  in 
Europe. 

Franklin  holds,  in  opposition  to  his  antagonist,  that  Eng- 
land might  properly  demand  Canada  as  an  indemnification, 
although  she  had  not,  in  the  outset,  put  forward  such  an 
acquisition  as  one  of  the  objects  of  the  war.  He  argues  that 
the  relations  of  England  and  France  in  America  are  such  as 
to  prevent  a  lasting  peace,  declaring  that  such  a  peace  can 
come  only  when  the  whole  country  is  subject  to  the  English 
government.  Disputes  arising  in  America  will  be  the  occa- 
sion of  European  wars.  Wars  between  the  two  powers  origi- 
nating in  Europe  will  extend  to  America,  and  give  oppor- 

1  Bigelow  :  Works  of  Franklin,  II.,  467. 


128  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tunities  for  other  powers  to  interfere.  The  boundaries  be- 
tween the  English  and  French  in  North  America  cannot  be 
so  drawn  as  to  prevent  quarrels.  The  frontier  must  neces- 
sarily be  more  than  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length.  Happy 
was  it  for  both  Holland  and  England  that  the  Dutch,  in  1674, 
ceded  New  Netherlands  to  the  English ;  since  that  time 
peace  between  them  has  continued  unbroken,  which  would 
have  been  impossible  if  the  Dutch  had  continued  to  hold 
that  province,  separating,  as  it  does,  the  eastern  and  middle 
British  colonies. 

Franklin  next  contends  that  erecting  forts  in  the  back  set- 
tlements will  not  prove  a  sufficient  security  against  the  French 
and  Indians,  but  that  the  retention  of  Canada  implies  every 
security.  The  possession  of  that  province,  and  that  alone, 
can  give  the  English  colonies  in  America  peace. 

He  then  devotes  several  pages  to  the  proposition  that  the 
blood  and  treasure  spent  in  the  war  were  not  spent  in  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  alone.  This  is  in  reply  to  the  argument 
that  the  interests  at  stake  in  America  were  rather  colonial  than 
British  or  imperial.  The  retention  of  Canada  will  widen  the 
landed  opportunities  of  the  colonists,  and  will  tend  to  keep 
them  agricultural  and  to  prevent  manufactures.  Franklin 
then  enunciates  a  proposition  that  would  make  Pennsylvania 
economists  of  to-day  stare  and  gasp.  "  Manufactures  are 
founded  in  poverty.  It  is  the  multitude  of  poor  without  land 
in  a  country,  and  who  must  work  for  others  at  low  wages  or 
starve,  that  enables  undertakers  to  carry  on  a  manufacture, 
and  afford  it  cheap  enough  to  prevent  the  importation  of  the 
same  kind  from  abroad,  and  to  bear  the  expense  of  its  own 
exportation."  He  contends  that  the  North  American  colo- 
nies are  the  western  frontier  of  the  British  Empire ;  that  they 
must  be  defended  by  the  empire  for  that  reason,  and  that 
Canada  will  be  a  conquest  for  the  whole,  the  advantage  of 
which  will  come  in  increase  of  trade  and  ease  of  taxes. 

To  the  argument  that  the  colonies  are  large  and  numer- 
ous enough,  and  that  the  French  ought  to  be  left  in  North 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.     129 

America  to  keep  them  in  check,  Franklin  replies  that,  in  time 
of  peace,  the  colonists  double  by  natural  generation  once  in 
twenty-five  years,  and  that  they  will  probably  continue  to  do 
so  for  a  century  to  come ;  but  that  the  colonies  will  not  cease 
to  be  useful  to  the  Mother  Country  for  that  reason.  On  this 
point  he  accumulates  a  variety  of  information  relating  to  the 
industrial  and  commercial  possibilities  of  the  country  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River  that  is  as  interesting  as  curious.  One 
hundred  millions  of  people  can  subsist  in  the  agricultural  con- 
dition east  of  that  river  and  south  of  the  Lakes  and  the  St. 
Lawrence.  The  facilities  for  inland  navigation  are  dwelt 
upon  with  admiration.  Franklin  dwells  at  much  length  upon 
the  improbability  of  the  colonists  taking  up  manufactures,  and 
upon  the  vast  quantities  of  British  goods  that  they  will  be 
sure  to  buy  and  consume. 

Having  striven  at  such  length  to  prove  that  the  colonies 
will  not  be  useless  to  the  Mother  Country,  he  takes  up  the 
proposition  that  they  will  not  be  dangerous  to  her.  This  is 
the  most  delicate  subject  handled  in  the  whole  pamphlet, 
and  one  that  attracted  attention  before  the  war  began.  Kalm, 
the  Swedish  naturalist  who  visited  the  colonies  in  1748,  and 
who  saw  so  much  more  than  natural  objects  in  the  course  of 
his  travels,  reports  that  in  New  York  he  found  much  doubt 
whether  the  King  of  England,  if  he  had  the  power,  would 
wish  to  drive  the  French  out  of  Canada.  Kalm  thus  expresses 
his  own  opinion  :  "  As  this  whole  country  is  toward  the  sea 
unguarded,  and  on  the  frontier  is  kept  uneasy  by  the  French, 
these  dangerous  neighbors  are  the  reason  why  the  love  of 
these  colonies  for  their  metropolis  does  not  utterly  decline. 
The  English  Government  has,  therefore,  reason  to  regard  the 
French  in  North  America  as  the  chief  power  that  urges  their 
colonies  to  submission." '  It  is  well  known  that  Choiseul 
warned  Stanley  when  the  two  ministers  were  discussing  the 
treaty  of  1763,  that  the  English  colonies  in  America  "would 

'Bancroft:   History,  IL,  310-311. 


130  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

not  fail  to  shake  off  their  dependence  the  moment  Canada 
should  be  ceded."  1  This  feeling  was  shared  by  many  people 
in  England,  and  it  probably  influenced  those  who  said  "  Gua- 
daloupe  not  Canada  "  quite  as  much  as  the  superiority  of  the 
Guadaloupe  sugar  to  the  Canada  furs.  Such  is  a  fair  state- 
ment of  the  argument  that  Franklin  sets  himself  to  answer. 

His  reply  is  "  that  the  colonies  cannot  be  dangerous  to 
England  without  union,  and  that  union  is  impossible."  To 
prove  that  union  is  impossible,  he  sets  forth  the  jealousies  of 
the  colonies  and  the  failure  of  all  attempts  hitherto  made  to 
bring  them  to  act  together.  There  are  now  fourteen  sepa- 
rate governments  on  the  sea-coast,  and  there  will  probably 
be  as  many  more  behind  them  on  the  inland  side.  These 
have  different  governors,  different  laws,  different  forms  of 
government,  different  interests,  different  religious  persuasions, 
and  different  manners.  "  If  they  could  not  agree  to  unite  for 
their  defence  against  the  French  and  Indians,  who  were  per- 
petually harassing  their  settlements,  burning  their  villages,  and 
murdering  their  people,  can  it  reasonably  be  supposed  there 
is  any  danger  of  their  uniting  against  their  own  nation,  which 
protects  and  encourages  them,  with  which  they  have  so  many 
connections  and  ties  of  blood,  interest,  and  affection,  and 
which,  it  is  well  known,  they  all  love  much  more  than  they 
love  one  another  ? "  And  yet  Franklin  was  careful  to  leave 
an  open  door  through  which  he  could  have  escaped  the  charge 
of  inconsistency  if  such  charge  had  been  preferred  a  dozen 
years  later.  "  When  I  say  such  a  union  is  impossible,  I  mean 
without  the  most  grievous  tyranny  and  oppression."  "  The 
waves  do  not  rise,"  he  says,  "  but  when  the  winds  blow." 
What  such  an  administration  as  the  Duke  of  Alva's  might 
bring  about  he  does  not  know ;  but  he  has  a  right  to  deem 
that  impossible.  Under  this  head  he  answers  the  argument 
"that  the  remoteness  of  the  Western  territories  will  bring 
about  their  separation  from  the  Mother  Country."  "While  our 

1  Parkman  :  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  II.,  403. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH    GOVERNMENT.     131 

strength  at  sea  continues,  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  in  point  of 
easy  and  expeditious  conveyance  of  troops,  are  nearer  to  Lon- 
don than  the  remote  parts  of  France  and  Spain  to  their  re- 
spective capitals,  and  much  nearer  than  Connaught  and  Ulster 
were  in  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  Of  the  two,  the  pres- 
ence of  the  French  in  Canada  will  engender  disaffection  in 
the  colonies  rather  than  prevent  it.  The  only  check  on  their 
growth  that  the  French  can  possibly  be,  is  that  of  blood  and 
carnage. 

Franklin  then  argues  that  Canada  can -be  easily  peopled 
from  the  colonies  without  draining  Great  Britain  of  her  in- 
habitants. Last  of  all  comes  the  proposition  that  the  value 
of  Guadaloupe  is  much  overestimated  by  those  who  prefer 
that  island  to  Canada. 

Many  of  the  arguments  contained  in  this  famous  pamphlet 
would  now  be  set  aside  by  an  economist  as  fallacious ;  but, 
fallacious  as  they  may  be,  they  have  that  plain  directness 
which,  along  with  other  qualities,  rendered  Franklin's  political 
tracts  so  conclusive  to  the  common  mind.  The  pamphlet  at- 
tracted great  attention  at  the  time,  and  "  was  believed,"  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Sparks,  "  to  have  had  great  weight  in  the  min- 
isterial councils,  and  to  have  been  mainly  instrumental  in 
causing  Canada  to  be  held  at  the  peace."1 

In  1765,  Sir  William  Johnson,  Governor  Franklin,  and 
other  influential  persons  formed  a  project  for  establishing  a 
new  colony  in  the  Illinois  country.  They  applied  to  Dr. 
Franklin,  then  in  London,  acting  as  agent  for  Pennsylvania, 
for  assistance,  and  he  entered  warmly  into  the  enterprise,  in 
which  he  also  had  an  interest.  For  a  time  the  application  for 
a  grant  of  lands  was  regarded  with  much  favor,  but  was  fi- 
nally rejected.  The  Doctor's  letters  to  his  son,  in  the  years 
1766-1768,  report  the  progress  of  the  negotiation,  and  help 
us  to  understand  English  opinion  touching  Western  settle- 
ments. He  found  the  following  objections  urged  against 

1  Sparks  :  IV.,  1-53. 


132  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  plan :  (i)  The  distance  would  render  such  a  colony  of 
little  use  to  England,  as  the  expense  of  the  carriage  of  goods 
would  urge  the  people  to  manufacture  for  themselves;  (2) 
the  distance  would  also  render  it  difficult  to  defend  and  gov- 
ern the  colony ;  (3)  such  a  colony  might,  in  time,  become 
troublesome  and  prejudicial  to  the  British  Government ;  (4) 
there  were  no  people  to  spare,  either  in  England  or  the  other 
colonies,  to  settle  a  new  colony.  Lord  Hillsborough  was  ter- 
ribly afraid  of  "  dispeopling  Ireland."  To  overturn  these  ob- 
jections, Franklin  brought  forward  the  arguments  with  which 
we  are  now  familiar.  Some  London  merchants,  who  were 
called  upon  for  testimony,  gave  the  unanimous  opinion  that 
colonies  in  the  Illinois  country  and  at  Detroit  would  enlarge 
British  commerce.  Franklin  "  reckoned  "  that  there  would  be 
63,000,000  acres  of  land  in  the  proposed  colony.  He  also 
reported  an  inclination  on  the  part  of  ministers  to  abandon 
the  Western  posts  as  more  expensive  than  useful,  unless  the 
colonies  should  see  fit  to  keep  them  up  at  their  own  expense. 
Fort  Pitt  was  actually  abandoned  soon  after. 

Here  I  must  interrupt  the  narrative  concerning  Franklin, 
to  state  some  other  facts  material  to  the  purpose.  In  1768 
Stuart,  the  Southern  Indian  agent,  following  the  proclamation 
of  1763,  and  the  instructions  of  Lord  Hillsborough,  negotiated 
with  the  Cherokees,  who  had  no  claim  whatever  to  lands  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Ohio,  a  treaty  that  was  very  obnoxious 
to  Virginia,  since  it  limited  her  on  the  west  by  the  Kanawha 
River.  A  few  days  later  Sir  William  Johnson,  the  Northern 
agent,  negotiated  with  the  Six  Nations,  who  claimed  the 
country  to  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  a  treaty  that  was 
much  more  to  her  liking.  This  treaty  established  the  fol- 
lowing boundary-line  between  the  lands  that  the  Nations 
claimed  iri  the  West  and  the  lands  of  the  whites  on  the 
East :  The  Ohio  and  Alleghany  Rivers  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Cherokee,  as  the  Tennessee  was  then  called,  to  Kittan- 

1  Sparks  :  IV.,  233-241. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.     133 

ning,  above  Fort  Pitt ;  thence  by  a  direct  line  east  to  the 
west  branch  of  the  Susquehanna ;  thence  through  the  moun- 
tains to  the  east  branch,  and  on  to  the  Delaware ;  and  finally 
by  the  Delaware,  the  Tianaderher,  and  Canada  Creek  to  Wood 
Creek,  above  Fort  Stanwix.  While  this  line  left  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  hands  of  the  Six  Na- 
tions, it  gave  to  the  colonies  the  whole  southeastern  half  of 
the  Ohio  Valley  to  the  Tennessee.  This  line  itself  shows  that 
the  Nations  regarded  their  Western  possessions  but  lightly. 
It  should  be  observed,  also,  that  the  alienation  of  their  claim 
still  left  the  English  to  deal  with  the  Indians  actually  on  the 
Western  soil.  In  the  end,  this  boundary  came  very  near  giv- 
ing Virginia  a  still  closer  limitation  on  the  west  than  the  one 
drawn  by  Stuart,  as  will  soon  appear.  The  opening  up  of  the 
country  south  of  the  Ohio  to  settlement  was  followed  by  great 
land-speculations,  and  by  quickened  emigration  to  that  region. 
In  1769  the  proposition  to  establish  a  Western  colony  was 
revived,  but  in  a  new  form.  Thomas  Walpole,  Samuel  Whar- 
ton,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Thomas  Pownal,  and  others  peti- 
tioned the  king  for  the  right  to  purchase  2,400,000  acres  of 
land  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  on  which  to  found 
a  new  government.  After  the  delays  incident  to  such  busi- 
ness, this  petition  was  granted  by  the  King  in  Council  in 
1772.  Slow  progress  was  made  in  perfecting  the  details;  but 
the  price  of  the  land  was  finally  fixed,  the  plan  of  government 
agreed  upon,  and  the  patent  actually  made  ready  for  the  seals, 
when  the  Revolution  broke  out,  and  dashed  the  new  colony 
forever.  Walpole,  the  leading  promoter  of  the  scheme,  was 
an  eminent  London  banker,  and  the  company  and  grant  were 
commonly  called  by  his  name.  The  company  called  itself 
the  Grand  Company,  and  proposed  to  name  the  colony 
Vandalia.  Although  the  project  finally  failed,  its  history 
presents  some  exceedingly  interesting  features.  It  should  be 
observed  that  the  Ohio  Company  of  1748,  which  had  been 
kept  alive  thus  far,  although  thwarted  in  its  original  purposes 
by  the  war,  was  absorbed  in  this  new  scheme. 


134  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

In  May,  1770,  the  Privy  Council  referred  the  Walpole  pe- 
tition to  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations ; 
and  two  years  later  their  Lordships  made  an  elaborate  report, 
drawn  by  their  president,  Lord'  Hillsborough.  This  report  ob- 
jected to  the  petition,  that  the  tract  of  land  prayed  for  lay  partly 
within  the  dominion  of  Virginia  south  of  the  Ohio ;  that  it 
extended  several  degrees  of  longitude  westward  from  the 
mountains ;  and  that  a  considerable  part  of  it  was  beyond  the 
line  that  had  been  drawn  between  His  Majesty's  territories 
and  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Six  Nations  and  the  Chero- 
kees.  Besides,  to  grant  the  petition  would  be  to  abandon 
the  principle  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  approved 
by  His  Majesty  at  the  close  of  the  war.  "Confining  the 
Western  extent  of  settlements  to  such  a  distance  from  the 
sea-coast  as  that  those  settlements  should  lie  within  the  reach 
of  the  trade  and  commerce  of  this  Kingdom,  upon  which  the 
strength  and  riches  of  it  depend,"  and  also  within  the  exercise 
of  that  authority  and  jurisdiction  which  were  conceived  to  be 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  colonies  in  due  subor- 
dination to,  and  dependence  upon,  the  Mother  Country — are 
declared  the  "  two  capital  objects  "  of  the  proclamation  of 
1763.  Lord  Hillsborough,  indeed,  admits  that  the  line  agreed 
upon  at  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768  is,  in  the  southwest,  far  be- 
yond the  sources  of  the  rivers  that  flow  into  the  Atlantic ; 
but  since  this  Stanwix  line  still  further  restricts  the  Indians' 
hunting  grounds,  he  sees  in  this  fact  a  new  reason  for  adher- 
ing closely  to  the  restrictive  policy.  His  Lordship  declares 
the  proposition  to  form  inland  colonies  in  America  "  entirely 
new  ;  "  he  says  the  great  object  of  the  North  American  colo- 
nies is  to  improve  and  extend  the  commerce,  navigation,  and 
manufactures  of  England ;  shore  colonies  he  approves  be- 
cause they  fulfil  this  condition,  and  inland  colonies  he  con- 
demns because  they  will  not  fulfil  it.  To  the  argument  that 
settlers  are  flowing  westward,  and  that  Western  settlements 
are  inevitable,  Lord  Hillsborough  replies  that  His  Majesty 
should  take  every  method  to  check  the  progress  of  such  set- 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH    GOVERNMENT.    135 

tlements,  and  should  not  make  grants  of  land  that  would  have 
an  immediate  tendency  to  encourage  them.  The  report  closes 
with  a  recommendation  that  the  Crown  immediately  issue  a 
new  proclamation  forbidding  all  persons  taking  up  or  settling 
on  lands  west  of  the  line  of  1763. 

It  would  be  hard  to  say  whether  this  report  won  for  its 
author  the  wider  fame  by  reason  of  its  odious  application  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  colonial  system  to  the  question  of  West- 
ern settlements,  or  by  reason  of  the  crushing  reply  that  it 
called  out  from  Dr.  Franklin.  Before  taking  up  that  reply, 
however,  the  remark  is  pertinent  that  Lord  Hillsborough's 
notion  that  royal  proclamations  were  going  to  keep  the  ad- 
venturous people  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas 
out  of  the  Western  country,  is  one  of  a  multitude  of  proofs  of 
the  incapacity  of  the  British  mind,  at  that  time,  to  under- 
stand American  questions.  It  was  only  less  absurd  than 
Dean  Tucker's  famous  plan  for  guarding  the  frontier  against 
the  incursions  of  the  Indians,  viz.,  that  the  trees  and  bushes 
be  cut  away  from  a  strip  of  land  a  mile  in  breadth  along  the 
back  of  the  colonies  from  Maine  to  Georgia.1 

Franklin  begins  his  reply  with  correcting  the  noble  Lord's 
ideas  of  American  geography.  The  land  asked  for  lies  be- 
tween the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  the  Ohio  River,  which 
are  separated,  "  on  a  medium,"  by  not  more  than  a  degree 
and  a  half.  The  grant  will  not  be  an  invasion  of  the  domin- 
ion of  Virginia,  because  that  colony  is  bounded  on  the  west 
by  the  mountains.  The  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was 
in  the  possession  of  the  Indians  previous  to  the  Stanwix 
treaty,  and  since  that  time  the  king  has  not  given  it  to  Vir- 
ginia. To  support  the  proposition  that  Virginia  does  not  ex- 
tend beyond  the  mountains,  which  is  absolutely  essential  to 
his  argument,  he  draws  up  a  territorial  history  of  the  region 
within  which  the  grant  will  fall,  entirely  ignoring  the  Vir- 
ginia charter. 

1  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Franklin,  IIL,  48,  49. 


136  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

1.  The  country  southward  of  the  Great  Kanawha,  as  far 
as  the  Tennessee  River,  originally  belonged  to  the  Shawanese 
Indians. 

2.  The  Six  Nations,  beginning  about  the  year  1664,  carried 
their  victorious  arms  over  the  whole  country,  from  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  latitude  of  Carolina,  and  from  the  Alleghanies 
to  the  Mississippi.     They,  therefore,  became  possessed  of  the 
lands  in  question  by  right  of  conquest. 

3.  Much  stress  is  then  laid  on  the  English   protectorate 
over  the  Six  Nations,  acknowledged  by  the  French  in  1713, 
and  by  the  Nations  in  1726.     When  the  French  came  into 
Western  Pennsylvania,  in  1754,  the  English   held  them  in- 
vaders on  the  express  ground  that  the  country  belonged  to 
their  allies  and  dependents.     This  was  the  view  held  by  the 
British  court  in  discussing  the  subject  with  Paris  in  1755. 
In  the  French  and  Indian  war  the  English  had  simply  main- 
tained their  old  rights ;  they  expelled  the  French  from  the 
West  as  intruders,  and  held  the  country  not  by  conquest,  but 
by  the  Iroquois  title.     At  Fort  Stanwix  the  Iroquois  sold  to 
the  Crown  all  their  lands  south  of  the  Ohio,  as  far  down  as 
the  Tennessee.     The  Crown  is,  therefore,  vested  with  the  un- 
doubted right  and  property  of  those  lands,  and  can  do  what 
it  pleases  with  them. 

4.  The  Cherokees  never  resided  or  hunted  in  the  country 
between  the  Kanawha  and  the  Tennessee,  and  had  no  right 
to   it.     The   claim   that   this   region   ever   belonged   to   the 
Cherokees  is  a  fiction  altogether  new  and   indefensible,  in- 
vented in  the  interest  of  Virginia.     When  that  government 
saw  that  it  was  likely  to  be  confined  on  the  west  by  the 
mountains  in  consequence  of  the  Stanwix  purchase,  it  set  up 
the  Cherokee  title  in  opposition  to  the  Northern  Indians. 

5.  Nor  do  the  Six  Nations,  the  Shawanese,  or  the  Dela- 
wares  now  reside  or  hunt  in  the  region  where  the  grant  will 
fall. 

Franklin's  object  is  to  find  room  for  the  new  colony  be- 
tween the  Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio.     He  follows  closely  the 


LAND   POLICY  OF  THE  BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.    137 

facts  of  history  touching  the  matter  immediately  in  hand. 
The  Iroquois  had  pretended  to  own  the  whole  West  north 
of  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  and  the  British  government 
and  New  York  had  humored  them  in  that  pretension.  But 
Franklin's  reasoning  on  this  point  recalls  forcibly  what  Mr. 
Parkman  says  in  a  passage  already  quoted  concerning  Iroquois 
conquests  and  titles.  What  is  more,  the  Iroquois  never  occu- 
pied the  Ohio  Valley,  while  the  Indians  who  were  occupying 
it  did  not  acknowledge  the  Iroquois  title.  The  signers  to  the 
Stanwix  treaty  were  all  Iroquois,  the  Delaware  and  Shawa- 
nese  delegates  present  at  the  council  refusing,  or  at  least  neg- 
lecting, to  sign.  But  granting  that  the  British-Iroquois  title 
was  perfectly  good  as  against  the  French  and  Western  Indians, 
it  had  no  force  as  against  Virginia.  The  right  that  priority 
of  discovery  gave  the  discoverer  was  the  right  of  pre-emption, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Indian  title  to  the  Ohio  Valley  was  ac- 
quired long  after  the  Virginia  charters  in  no  way  affected  the 
rights  of  Virginia,  if  she  ever  had  any.  If  the  English  had 
waited  to  acquire  Indian  titles  before  sending  over  colonies, 
America  would  be  a  wilderness  at  this  day.  Even  the  hu- 
mane Penn  first  sent  over  his  colony,  two  thousand  strong, 
and  then  treated  with  the  Indians.  Franklin  had  himself,  in 
1754,  expressly  acknowledged  the  binding  force  of  the  "from 
sea-to-sea"  charters  until  they  should  be  duly  limited.  It  is 
hard  to  see,  therefore,  that  the  Fort  Stanwix  purchase  af- 
fected Virginia's  rights,  unless  it  be  claimed  that  the  purchase 
was  made  by  a  royal  officer  at  the  expense  of  the  Crown,  and 
not  by  the  colony  at  her  own  expense ;  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  Crown  had  taken  Indian  affairs  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  colonies,  and  that  New  York,  Massachusetts, 
and  Connecticut  never  regarded  the  purchase  as  at  all  easing 
their  rights  in  the  West.  At  the  same  time,  Franklin's  rea- 
soning was  admirably  adapted  to  his  immediate  purpose.  It 
would  appear,  from  Franklin's  account  of  things,  that  Virginia 
had  concluded  that  after  all  she  had  more  to  fear  from  John- 
son's  line  than  from  Stuart's. 


138  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Franklin  restates  the  old  arguments  in  favor  of  interior 
settlements,  and,  after  a  thorough  examination  of  the  whole 
subject,  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  proclamation  of 
1763  was  intended  solely  to  pacify  the  Indians  at  a  critical 
time,  and  that  the  Stanwix  treaty  has  set  the  proclamation- 
line  effectually  aside.  Looking  into  the  West,  he  reports  that 
in  the  years  1765-1768  great  numbers  of  the  king's  subjects 
from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania  were  settling  over 
the  mountains ;  that  this  emigration  led  to  great  irritation 
among  the  Indians ;  that  the  emigrants  refused  to  obey  the 
'proclamations  issued  ordering  them  to  return  to  the  other 
side  of  the  king's  line  ;  that  attempts  to  remove  them  by  force 
ended  only  in  failure ;  that  the  frontier  troubles  were  among 
the  causes  that  led  to  the  treaty  of  1768  ;  that  the  said  treaty, 
negotiated  by  Sir  William  Johnson  under  express  orders  from 
the  home  government,  proves  that  the  permanent  exclusion 
of  settlers  from  the  Western  country  could  not  have  been  in- 
tended in  1763.  The  Doctor  states  that  Pennsylvania  had 
made  it  felony  to  occupy  Indian  lands  within  the  limits  of 
that  colony ;  that  the  Governor  of  Virginia  had  commanded 
settlers  to  vacate  all  Indian  lands  within  the  limits  of  his  gov- 
ernment ;  and  that  General  Gage  had  twice  sent  soldiers  to 
remove  the  settlers  from  the  Monongahela  region,  but  all 
these  efforts  to  enforce  the  restrictive  policy  had  proved  un- 
availing. He  asserts  that  the  object  of  the  Stanwix  purchase 
was  to  avert  "  an  Indian  rupture,  and  give  an  opportunity  to 
the  king's  subjects  quietly  and  lawfully  to  settle  thereon." 

Franklin  does  not  fail  to  convict  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
inconsistency.  In  1748  it  was  anxious  to  promote  settle- 
ments in  the  Ohio  Valley ;  in  1768  it  was  of  the  opinion  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  middle  colonies  should  be  permitted 
gradually  to  extend  themselves  backward;  in  1770  Lord  Hills- 
borough  recommended  a  new  colony  there,  and  two  years  later 
he  made  to  the  council  the  adverse  report  to  which  Franklin 
is  now  replying.  The  promoters  of  the  new  colony  have  no 
idea,  he  says,  of  draining  Great  Britain  or  the  old  colonies  of 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH    GOVERNMENT.    139 

their  population.  That  will  be  wholly  unnecessary.  If  the 
colony  is  planted  the  colonists  will  not  become  lawless  or  re- 
bellious, because  they  will  be  subjected  to  government ;  but 
if  the  present  restriction  be  continued  the  country  will  become 
the  resort  of  desperate  characters.  Moreover,  there  is  already 
a  considerable  population  in  the  very  district  that  the  peti- 
tioners pray  for ;  and  if  these  lawless  people  are  not  soon 
made  subject  to  some  authority,  an  Indian  war  will  be  the 
consequence.  They  are  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia, 
which  cannot  be  extended  over  them  without  great  difficulty, 
if  at  all.  Hence,  the  only  way  to  prevent  the  back  country 
becoming  the  home  of  violence  and  disorder  is  to  establish  a 
new  government  there. 

Many  pages  of  Franklin's  paper  are  devoted  to  the  eco- 
nomical bearings  of  the  proposed  colony.  He  does  not  deny 
the  doctrines  of  the  colonial  system  ;  he  rather  assumes  them  ; 
but  he  contradicts  Hillsborough's  applications  of  those  doc- 
trines to  the  matter  in  hand.  On  these  points  he  collects  a 
mass  of  information  concerning  the  Ohio  country  and  its  ca- 
pabilities, its  relations  to  the  commercial  world,  methods  of 
reaching  it,  etc.,  that  makes  the  report  exceedingly  readable. 

Franklin's  reply  to  Hillsborough,  read  in  Council,  July  I, 
1772,  immediately  led  to  granting  the  Walpole  petition.  His 
Lordship,  who  had  considered  his  report  overwhelming,  at 
once  resigned  his  office  in  disgust  and  mortification.  Hills- 
borough,  it  is  said,  "  had  conceived  an  idea,  and  was  forming 
the  plan  of  a  boundary-line  to  be  drawn  from  the  Hudson 
River  to  the  Mississippi,  and  thereby  confining  the  British  col- 
onists between  that  line  and  the  ocean,  similar  to  the  scheme 
of  the  French  after  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  which  brought 
on  the  war  of  1756."  The  fact  is,  the  British  government 
had  borrowed  of  the  French  their  restrictive  scheme.1 

It  appears  from  Franklin's  pamphlet  that  the  Virginia  gov- 


1  The  Hillsborough  Report,  Franklin's  reply,  and  the  proclamation  of  1763  are 
in  Sparks,  IV.,  302-380. 


140  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ernment  had  been  disturbed  by  the  proceedings  at  Fort  Stan- 
wix.  It  was  still  more  seriously  disturbed  by  the  proceedings 
of  Walpole  and  his  associates  in  London.  On  April  15,  1770, 
George  Washington  wrote  a  letter  to  Lord  Botetourt,  the 
governor,  explaining  how  the  Walpole  grant  would  affect 
that  colony.  He  says  the  boundary  would  run  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Scioto  River  south  through  the  pass  of  the 
Ouasioto  Mountains  near  to  the  latitude  of  North  Caro- 
lina ;  thence  northeast  to  the  Kanawha  at  the  junction  of 
the  New  River  and  the  Greenbrier;  thence  by  the  Green- 
brier  and  a  due-east  line  drawn  from  the  head  of  that  river  to 
the  Alleghany  Mountains ;  after  which  the  boundaries  will 
be  Lord  Fairfax's  line,  the  lines  of  Maryland  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  Ohio  River  to  the  place  of  beginning — a  large 
surface,  surely,  over  which  to  spread  2,400,000  acres  of  land. 
Washington  says  that  many  Virginians  are  already  settled  on 
New  River  and  the  Greenbrier  upon  lands  that  Virginia  has 
patented.  He  declares  that  the  grant  will  give  a  fatal  blow  to 
the  interests  of  Virginia.  Having  thus  delivered  his  "  senti- 
ments as  a  member  of  the  community  at  large,"  he  begs  leave  to 
address  his  Excellency  from  "  a  more  interested  point  of  view," 
alleging  that  the  200,000  acres  of  land  promised  the  Virginia 
troops,  called  out  in  1754  lie  within  these  very  limits.  He 
protests  earnestly  against  any  interference  with  the  rights  of 
these  men,  and  prays  his  Lordship's  interposition  with  His 
Majesty  to  have  these  lands  confirmed  to  the  claimants  and 
rightful  owners.  Washington  continued  to  watch  the  new 
colony  with  a  lively  interest.  In  a  letter  to  Lord  Dunmore, 
written  June  15,  1771,  he  says  the  report  gains  ground  that 
the  grant  will  be  made  and  the  colony  established,  and  de- 
clares again  that  the  plan  will  essentially  interfere  with  the 
interests  and  expectations  of  Virginia.  He  also  renews  his 
plea  in  behalf  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  1754.' 

1  The  two  letters  are  found  side  by  side  in  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Washington, 
H-.  3SS-36L 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH    GOVERNMENT.     141 

The  facts  presented  show  conclusively  that  in  the  years 
following  the  French  war  the  Western  policy  of  the  British 
was  not  steady  or  consistent,  but  fitful  and  capricious ; 
prompted  by  a  solicitude  for  the  Indians  that  was  partly 
feigned,  and  partly  by  a  growing  jealousy  of  the  shore  colo- 
nies. Vandalia  was  the  more  welcome  to  the  Council  because 
it  would  limit  Virginia  on  the  west,  and  so  weaken  her  influ- 
ence. It  is  perfectly  plain  that  George  III.  did  not  excel 
James  I.  in  regard  for  the  charter  of  1609. 

The  policy  of  restriction  culminated  in  1774  in  the  Quebec 
Act.  This  act  guaranteed  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec  the  possession  of  its  vast  property,  said  to 
equal  one-fourth  of  the  old  French  grants ;  it  confirmed  the 
Catholic  clergy  in  the  rights  and  privileges  that  they  had  en- 
joyed under  the  old  regime ;  it  set  aside  the  provisions  of  the 
proclamation  of  1763,  creating  representative  government,  and 
restored  tfce  French  system  of  laws  ;  it  committed  taxation  to 
a  council  appointed  by  the  Crown  ;  it  abolished  trial  by  jury 
in  civil,  cases;  and,  finally,  it  extended  the  province  on  the 
north  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  on  the  southwest  and  west  to  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.  Some  features  of  this  enactment 
can  no  doubt  be  successfully  defended.  As  a  whole  it  had  two 
great  ends.  One  was  to  propitiate  the  French  population  of 
Canada,  to  attach  them  by  interest  and  sympathy  to  England, 
and  so  to  prevent  their  making  common  cause  with  the  colo- 
nies in  case  worse  should  come  to  worst ;  the  other  was  per- 
manently to  sever  the  West  from  the  shore  colonies,  and  put 
it  in  train  for  being  cut  up,  when  the  time  should  come,  into 
independent  governments  that  should  have  their  affiliations 
with  the  St.  Lawrence  basin  rather  than  with  the  Atlantic 
slope.  Here  it  may  be  observed  that  twice  the  old  North- 
west was  subject  to  a  jurisdiction  whose  capital  was  on  the 
St.  Lawrence ;  once  in  the  old  French  days,  and  once  in  the 
last  year  of  the  British  control  of  the  colonies — a  fact  that 
shows  how  thoroughly  the  home  government  had  adopted 
French  ideas  concerning  the  West. 


142  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  year  1774  is  remarkable  for  odious  colonial  measures; 
it  was  the  year  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  and  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Bill ;  but  no  one  of  these  measures  was  more  odious  to 
the  colonists  than  the  Quebec  Act.  They  regarded  the 
changes  made  in  the  government  of  Canada  as  a  stroke  at 
their  own  governments,  while  they  looked  upon  the  new 
boundaries  as  a  final  effort  to  wrest  the  West  from  them  for- 
ever. The  act  provoked  a  general  outcry  of  denunciation. 
The  youthful  Hamilton  made  it  the  subject  of  one  of  his 
first  political  papers.  The  Continental  Congress,  enumerating 
"  the  acts  of  pretended  legislation  "  to  which  the  king  had 
given  his  assent,  included  in  the  formidable  list  the  act  "  for 
abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring 
province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and 
enlarging  its  boundaries  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example 
and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  in 
these  colonies."  The  Declaration  of  Independence  arraigned 
the  king  on  another  charge.  "  He  has  endeavored  to  prevent 
the  population  of  these  States ;  for  that  purpose  obstructing 
the  laws  for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners ;  refusing  to  pass 
others  to  encourage  emigration  hither,  and  raising  the  condi- 
tions of  new  appropriations  of  lands."  The  presence  of  these 
counts  in  the  indictment  of  1776  shows  the  power  with  which 
the  royal  policy  had  taken  hold  of  the  colonial  mind.  Those 
colonies  that  had  definite  Western  boundaries  joined  in  the 
indictment,  as  well  as  those  that  claimed  to  the  Mississippi 
River.  There  was  a  universal  feeling  that  "  lands  which  had 
been  rescued  from  the  French  by  the  united  efforts  of  Great 
Britain  and  America  were  now  severed  from  their  natural 
connections  with  the  settlements  of  the  seaboard,  and  formed 
into  a  vast  inland  province  like  the  ancient  Louisiana."  * 

The  enlargement  of  the  province  was  defended  in  Parlia- 
ment, according  to  the  "  Annual  Register,"  on  the  ground  that 


1  Adams :   Maryland's  Influence  on  Western  Land  Cessions  to  the  United 
States,  19. 


LAND   POLICY   OF   THE   BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.     143 

there  were  French  inhabitants  beyond  the  proclamation-limits 
of  1763  "who  ought  to  have  provision  made  for  them;  and 
that  there  was  one  entire  colony  at  the  Illinois."  The  "  Reg- 
ister "  thus  sums  up  the  objections  of  the  opposition  : 

"  Further  they  asked,  why  the  proclamation  limits  were  en- 
larged, as  if  it  were  thought  that  this  arbitrary  government 
could  not  have  too  extensive  an  object.  If  there  be,  which  they 
doubted,  any  spots  on  which  some  Canadians  are  settled,  pro- 
vide, said  they,  for  them  ;  but  do  not  annex  to  Canada  immense 
territories  now  desert,  but  which  are  the  best  part  of  that  con- 
tinent, and  which  run  on  the  back  of  all  your  ancient  colonies. 
That  this  measure  cannot  fail  to  add  to  their  other  discontents 
and  apprehensions,  as  they  can  attribute  the  extension  given  to 
an  arbitrary  military  government,  and  to  a  people  alien  in  ori- 
gin, laws,  and  religion,  to  nothing  else  but  that  design,  of  which 
they  see  but  too  many  proofs  already,  of  utterly  extinguishing 
their  liberties,  and  bringing  them,  by  the  arms  of  those  very 
people,  whom  they  had  helped  to  conquer,  into  a  state  of  the 
most  abject  vassalage."  J 

The  restoration  of  the  French  system  of  laws  was  defended 
on  the  ground  that  the  Canadians  were  indifferent  to  English 
institutions,  and  were  incapable  of  carrying  on  representative 
government. 

But  the  Quebec  Act  did  not  accomplish  its  expected  pur- 
pose. It  was  nullified  by  the  Revolution.  By  and  by,  when 
the  limits  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  as  they  were  after  1763, 
were  set  up  as  the  criterion  to  determine  the  boundaries  of 
the  United  States,  England,  France,  and  Spain,  all  took  the 
position  that  the  Royal  Proclamation  and  the  Quebec  Act 
limited  the  States  on  the  west.  To  this  claim  the  replies, 
"  The  king's  line  of  1763  was  a  temporary  expedient  to  quiet 
the  Indians,"  and  "  The  Quebec  Act  was  one  of  the  causes 
that  brought  on  the  war,  and  that  we  are  fighting  to  resist," 

•Annual  Register,  1774,  76,  77. 


144  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

are  pressed  once  and  again  in  the  American  state  papers  of 
the  period. 

Even  Lord  Dunmore,  that  bitter  enemy  of  the  colonies 
and  steadfast  upholder  of  the  British  cause,  ignored  the 
Western  policy  of  the  home  government.  His  personal  char- 
acteristics, love  of  money  and  of  power,  contributed  to  this 
end.  "  His  passion  for  land  and  fees,"  says  Bancroft,  "  out- 
weighing the  proclamation  of  the  king  and  reiterated  most 
positive  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  he  supported 
the  claims  of  the  colony  to  the  West,  and  was  a  partner  in 
two  immense  purchases  of  land  from  the  Indians  in  Southern 
Illinois.  In  1773  his  agents,  the  Bullets,  made  surveys  at  the 
Falls  of  the  Ohio ;  and  parts  of  Louisville  and  parts  of  the 
towns  opposite  Cincinnati  are  now  held  under  his  warrant." 
The  Indian  war  that  takes  its  name  from  his  Lordship,  which 
was  brought  on  by  his  own  Western  policy,  was  in  contraven- 
tion of  the  policy  of  the  home  government ;  and  the  historian 
just  quoted  goes  so  far  as  to  say  :  "  The  royal  Governor  of 
Virginia,  and  the  Virginian  Army  in  the  Valley  of  the  Scioto, 
nullified  the  Act  of  Parliament  which  extended  the  Province 
of  Quebec  to  the  Ohio,  and  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  triumphantly  maintained  for  Virginia  the  Western  and 
Northwestern  jurisdiction  which  she  claimed  as  her  chartered 
right."  Virginia  "  applauded  Dunmore  when  he  set  at  naught 
the  Quebec  Act,  and  kept  possession  of  the  government  and 
right  to  grant  lands  on  the  Scioto,  the  Wabash,  and  the  Illi- 
nois."1 Dunmore's  invasion  of  the  Northwest,  in  1774,  added 
another  link  to  the  Virginia  chain  of  titles  to  those  regions. 
"  From  its  second  charter,  the  discoveries  of  its  people,  the  au- 
thorized grants  of  its  governors  since  1 746,  the  encouragement 
of  its  legislature  to  settlers  in  1752-53,  the  promise  of  lands 
as  bounties  to  officers  and  soldiers  who  served  in  the  French 
war,  and  the  continued  emigration  of  its  inhabitants,  the  An- 
cient Dominion  derived  its  title  to  occupy  the  Great  West." " 

1  History,  IV.,  82,  83,  88.  *  Bancroft :  History,  III.,  320. 


LAND   POLICY   OF  THE  BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.     145 

Strangely  enough,  the  British  Government  strove  to  keep 
the  Northwest  a  waste,  years  after  having  lost  all  control  of  it. 
The  British  commissioners  at  Ghent,  in  1814,  proposed  as 
one  of  the  first  conditions  of  peace,  "  that  the  United  States 
should  conclude  a  peace  with  the  Indian  allies  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  that  a  species  of  neutral  belt  of  Indian  territory  should 
be  established  between  the  dominions  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  so  that  these  dominions  should  be  nowhere 
conterminous,  upon  which  belt  or  barrier  neither  power  should 
be  permitted  to  encroach  even  by  purchase,  and  the  bounda- 
ries of  which  should  be  settled  in  this  treajty "  [about  to  be 
negotiated]  ;  and  Dr.  Adams,  one  of  those  -commissioners, 
answering  the  question  what  should  be  {lone  with  the  one 
hundred  thousand  citizens  of  the  United  States  already  set- 
tled in  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Illinois,  replied  that  they  must 
shift  for  themselves.1 

There  was  one  English  statesman,  at  least,  at  the  period 
of  the  Revolution  who  saw  the  futility  of  all  attempts  to  carry 
out  the  restrictive  policy.  In  his  famous  y  Speech  on  Con- 
ciliation of  America,"  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
March  22,  1775,  Edmund  Burke  replied  to  the  suggestion 
that,  as  a  means  of  checking  the  too  rapidly  growing  popula- 
tion, the  Crown  should  make  no  further  grants  of  land,  thus 
working  an  "  avarice  of  desolation "  and  a  "  hoarding  of  a 
royal  wilderness."  If  the  grants  are  stopped,  the  people  will 
occupy  without  grants,  as  they  have  already  done  in  many 
places ;  if  driven  from  one  locality,  they  will  remove  to  an- 
other, for  in  the  back  settlements  they  are  little  attached  to 
particular  situations.  And  then,  launching  out  into  one  of 
those  glowing  descriptive  passages  for  which  his  eloquence  is 
so  celebrated,  the  orator  proceeds  : 

"  Already  they  have  topped  the  Appalachian  Mountains. 
From  thence  they  behold  before  them  an  immense  plain,  one 
vast,  rich  level  meadow :  a  square  of  five  hundred  miles. 

Morse  :  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  Statesmen  Series,  78,  80. 
10 


146  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

Over  this  they  would  wander  without  a  possibility  of  re- 
straint ;  they  would  change  their  manners  with  the  habits  of 
their  life ;  would  hence  soon  forget  a  government  by  which 
they  were  disowned ;  would  become  hordes  of  English  Tar- 
tars, and,  pouring  down  upon  your  unfortified  frontiers  a  fierce 
and  irresistible  cavalry,  become  masters  of  your  governors  and 
your  counsellors,  your  collectors  and  comptrollers,  and  of 
all  the  slaves  that  adhered  to  them.  Such  would,  and  in 
no  long  time  must  be,  the  effect  of  attempting  to  forbid  as  a 
crime,  and  to  suppress  as  an  evil,  the  command  and  blessing 
of  Providence,  '  Increase  and  multiply.'  Such  would  be  the 
happy  result  of  an  endeavor  to  keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts 
that  earth  which  God  by  an  express  charter  has  given  to  the 
children  of  men." 

Signally  as  England  failed  in  the  attempt  to  exclude  civili- 
zation from  the  Great  West,  she  did  not  abandon  the  attempt 
to  apply  the  principles  of  the  Royal  Proclamation  to  the 
American  wilderness.  In  discussing  the  Oregon  Question 
with  the  United  States  in  1818-1846,  she  stubbornly  strove, 
to  prevent  settlements  on  the  waters  of  the  Columbia,  and  to 
devote  the  shores  of  the  distant  Pacific  to  the  purposes  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company.  Fortunately  she  was  again  foiled  by 
the  power  that  had  foiled  her  before — the  enterprise  and  hardi- 
hood of  the  American  pioneer.1 

1  See  Barrows  :  Oregon,  in  Commonwealth  Series. 


IX. 

THE  NORTHWEST  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

MR.  BANCROFT  says  the  French  and  Indian  war  was  be- 
gun by  England  "  for  the  acquisition  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 
She  achieved  this  conquest,  but  not  for  herself.  .  .  .  Eng- 
land became  not  so  much  the  possessor  of  the  valley  of  the 
West  as  the  trustee,  commissioned  to  transfer  it  from  the 
France  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  free  people  who  were  mak- 
ing for  humanity  a  new  life  in  America."  '  How  unfit  Eng- 
land was,  in  the  days  of  George  III.,  to  be  the  possessor  of 
the  valley  is  shown  by  the  policy  that  she  pursued  from  the 
close  of  the  French  war  to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution. 
She  was  first  anxious  to  secure  possession  of  the  Ohio,  and 
then  reluctant  to  see  it  put  to  any  civilized  use.  Her  restric- 
tive Western  policy,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  the  causes 
leading  to  the  War  of  Independence,  and  so  leading  to  the  loss 
of  the  whole  West. 

Although  a  solitude,  and  because  a  solitude,  the  over- 
mountain  country  had  more  at  stake  in  the  Revolution  than 
the  Atlantic  slope.  On  the  slope,  whatever  the  issue  of 
the  war,  an  Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  although  it  might  be 
greatly  stunted  and  impoverished,  was  assured  ;  but  in  the 
Western  valleys  such  few  seeds  of  civilization  as  had  been 
planted  were  Gallican  and  not  Saxon.  Moreover,  there  were 
uncertainties  and  perils  growing  out  of  the  relation  of  that 
country  to  the  Franco-Spanish  civilization  of  Louisiana.  Be- 
tween 1748  and  1783  the  Western  question  presented  three 

1  History,  IL,  565. 


148  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

distinct  phases.  In  1748-1763  it  was  the  supremacy  of  Eng- 
land or  France  in  the  West;  in  1763-1775  it  was  whether  the 
country  should  belong  to  the  red  man  or  the  white  man ;  and 
in  1775-1783  it  was  whether  it  should  form  a  part  of  the 
United  States  or  of  some  foreign  power.  In  general,  this  last 
question  was  settled  by  the  "  skirmishes  of  sentinels  and  out- 
posts "  east  of  the  mountains,  as  Lafayette  called  the  Rev- 
olution. Still  the  Northwest  appears  in  the  Revolution  in 
two  or  three  aspects  that  must  be  presented. 

For  a  few  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  French  war 
the  Western  Indians  had  been  disposed  to  listen  to  the  Eng- 
lish envoys  who  visited  them  rather  than  to  the  French  ;  but 
the  defeat  of  Braddock  brought  upon  the  English  frontier- 
settlements  all  the  scalping  knives  of  the  Western  hordes. 
The  Indians  were  really  a  part  of  the  soil,  like  the  trees  and 
the  buffalo,  but  France  could  not  transfer  them  in  1763  with 
the  same  facility  to  their  new  masters.  The  savages  under- 
stood perfectly  that  the  English  were  far  more  dangerous  to 
them  than  the  French  had  been.  The  posting  of  garrisons  in 
the  Western  forts  would  be  likely  to  bring  to  their  best  hunt- 
ing grounds  swarms  of  colonists  greedy  for  lands.  The  offi- 
cers of  the  garrisons  sent  to  the  West  reported  the  Indians 
sullen  and  angry.  Pontiac  was  at  that  very  time  organizing 
his  formidable  conspiracy,  the  aim  of  which  was  to  roll  back 
the  tide  of  English  invasion.  In  the  summer  of  1763  the 
storm  of  war  burst  upon  the  wilderness-garrisons:  Mackinaw, 
St.  Joseph,  Sandusky,  Ouiatenon,  Fort  Miami,  Presque  Isle, 
Le  Bceuf,  and  Venango  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  savages ; 
and  Fort  Pitt  and  Detroit  were  beleaguered.  But  Boquet's 
brave  march  to  the  heart  of  Ohio  and  Gladwin's  heroic  de- 
fence of  Detroit  broke  the  power  of  the  Ottawa  chieftain,  and 
the  Indians  were  compelled  to  come  to  termsf  And  now 
began  a  process  of  mutual  reconciliation.  The  royal  procla- 
mation of  1763,  the  subsequent  restriction  of  the  Western 
population,  the  measurable  adoption  of  French  methods  by 
the  British  officers,  the  growing  conviction  of  the  savage  that 


THE  NORTHWEST   IN  THE  REVOLUTION.  149 

the  British  Government  and  the  colonies  were  not  the  same, 
and  that  his  danger  came  from  the  latter — these  causes,  with 
the  widening  breach  between  the  Mother  Country  and  the 
colonies,  gradually  won  the  Indians  over  to  the  British  side, 
and  made  them  ready  to  accept  the  war-belt  whenever  the 
British  commandant  at  Detroit  should  send  it  to  them.  It 
is  a  fact,  and  perhaps  a  curious  one,  that  whenever  the  St. 
Lawrence  Valley  and  the  Atlantic  Slope  have  been  arrayed 
against  each  other  in  deadly  strife,  the  Western  Indians  have 
sided  with  the  former — in  1755,  in  1775,  and  in  1812. 

In  1763  Sir  William  Johnson  estimated  the  Western  Ind- 
ians, exclusive  of  the  Illinois,  at  9,000  warriors,1  and  we  may 
accept  that  as  the  number  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Of  these  the  large  majority  were  already  enemies  of 
the  Americans,  fully  prepared  to  do  their  part  to  wrap  the 
long  frontier  from  the  Susquehanna  to  the  Tennessee  in 
flames  and  blood.  Left  to  themselves,  these  savages  would 
have  been  a  formidable  foe ;  but  with  a  base  of  supplies  on 
the  Detroit,  with  rallying  points  in  the  wilderness-forts,  and 
with  the  constant  stimulation  and  frequent  leadership  of  Brit- 
ish officers,  they  were  simply  portentous.  The  American 
Revolution  in  its  Northwestern  aspect  was  a  continuation  of 
the  French  and  Indian  war,  the  old  conflict  renewed  with 
some  change  of  parties.  The  States  find  the  savage  power  of 
the  Northwest  arrayed  against  them  as  before.  France  has 
dropped  out  and  England  has  taken  her  place,  succeeding  to 
all  her  ideas — even  that  of  employing  the  savage's  tomahawk 
against  her  revolted  colonies — and  to  all  the  advantages  of 
the  old  French  position. 

The  proposition  to  employ  the  scalping  knife  called  out 
from  Lord  Chatham«one  of  his  immortal  bursts  of  eloquence. 
It  was  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  General  Howe  and  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  ;  but  it  was  heartily  approved  by  Governor  Hamil- 
ton, at  Detroit,  who  at  once  made  ready  to  use  all  the  re- 

1  Walker  :  Michigan  Pioneer  Collections,  IIL,  16. 


150  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

sources  that  his  position  gave  him,  to  bring  upon  the  rear 
and  flank  of  the  States  the  only  form  of  warfare  known  in 
those  regions.  He  employed  Elliot,  McGee,  and  the  Girty 
brothers.  He  subsidized  the  Indians.  Time  and  again  he 
sent  to  the  tribes  the  war-belt,  summoning  them  to  bloody 
forays  that  he  himself  had  planned.  His  acts  will  not  be  here 
recounted,  nor  will  the  history  of  this  phase  of  the  Revolu- 
tion be  written ;  but  it  is  due  to  Hamilton  to  say  that  his  hand 
was  seen  at  Wheeling,  at  Harrodsburg,  at  Boonsborough,  at 
the  Blue  Licks,  where  the  flower  of  Kentucky  fell,  as  well  as 
in  a  hundred  attacks  upon  outlying  stations  and  defenceless 
farms. 

The  only  other  force  that  the  British  commander  at  De- 
troit could  wield  was  that  of  the  habitants.  Before  we  can 
describe  the  part  that  they  played  in  the  struggle,  we  must 
sketch  their  history  from  the  close  of  the  previous  war. 

The  moment  the  French  settlements  in  the  West  passed 
into  English  hands,  they  began  to  decline  in  both  the  number 
and  the  quality  of  their  population.  The  causes  of  this  de- 
cline are  easily  found. 

The  sources  of  such  strength  as  they  had  had  were  now 
sapped.  The  proclamation  of  1763  left  them  outside  the  pale 
of  any  civil  jurisdiction,  subject  only  to  military  authority. 
Nor  did  the  Quebec  Act  work  any  real  change.  All  through 
the  Revolution,  the  commander  of  the  Detroit  garrison  was 
the  civil  as  well  as  the  military  head  of  the  whole  Northwest, 
and  most  of  his  subordinates  were  military  officers.  There 
were  magistrates,  but  their  commissions  came  from  the  com- 
mandant, and  they  dealt  out  a  very  arbitrary  and  capricious 
justice.  For  example,  Governor  Hamilton  adjudged  a 
defendant,  who  pleaded  that  he  could  not  pay  a  debt,  to 
give  the  plaintiff  an  old  negro  wench ;  and  Dejean,  a  magis- 
trate who  cuts  a  great  figure  in  Detroit  in  those  days,  con- 
demned men  to  the  gallows  whom  a  jury  had  found  guilty  of 
theft.  The  orderly  was  a  more  conspicuous  officer  of  the  law 
than  the  constable.  Military  officers  sometimes  solemnized 


THE  NORTHWEST   IN   THE   REVOLUTION.  151 

marriages,  and  even  administered  the  rite  of  baptism.  The 
Canadian  officers  of  the  time  knew  almost  nothing  of  the 
country  beyond  the  Lakes.  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  Governor  of 
Canada,  told  the  House  of  Commons  in  1774  that  Michigan 
was  a  part  of  Canada,  but  that  Detroit  was  not ;  and  that  he 
did  not  know  where  Canada  ended  and  Illinois  began.  At 
that  time,  it  must  be  remembered,  English  statesmen  had  less 
knowledge  of  the  boundaries  of  great  provinces  in  North 
America  than  they  have  now  of  narrow  valleys  or  small  oases 
in  the  deserts  of  Turkistan.  Between  the  Western  habitants  and 
the  British  officers  there  was  a  strong  mutual  dislike.  They 
had  been  trained  for  generations  to  believe  the  British  their 
implacable  enemies,  and  they  could  not  suddenly  consent  to 
be  governed  by  them.  To  be  sure,  the  capitulation  of  1760 
and  the  treaty  of  1763  both  guaranteed  them  fullest  pro- 
tection, with  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  religion ;  but  these 
pledges  did  not  overcome  their  repugnance  to  the  change 
of  governors.  Then  most  of  them  had  sympathized  with 
Pontiac,  and  this  made  them  shy  of  the  British  authorities. 
The  authorities  of  Louisiana  offered  the  French  in  Illinois 
and  Michigan  special  inducements  to  remove  to  that  prov- 
ince. The  mild  climate,  productive  soil,  a  congenial  popula- 
tion, and  the  French  laws,  religion,  and  customs,  together  with 
the  more  direct  inducements,  made  the  invitation  very  attrac- 
tive. The  Illinois  people  had  only  to  cross  the  Mississippi  to 
find  another  Illinois.  Then  just  at  that  time  La  Clede  founded 
St.  Louis.  Very  naturally,  therefore,  the  Northwestern  set- 
tlements began  to  diminish  in  numbers  and  to  deteriorate  in 
quality.  In  a  few  years  Kaskaskia  and  Detroit  dwindled 
to  one-third  their  former  population.  Nor  did  a  British  pop- 
ulation come  in  to  take  their  places.  No  doubt  men  from 
New  York  and  other  colonies  would  have  flocked  to  Detroit, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  adoption  by  the  British  Government 
of  the  French  policy  of  restriction.  Judge  Walker  says  that 
in  1778  there  were  at  Detroit  thirty  Scotchmen,  fifteen  Irish- 
men, and  two  Englishmen  j  and  he  estimates  the  total  per- 


152  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

manent  population  of  the  territory  between  the  two  rivers  and 
the  lakes  as  five  thousand  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.1 

Evidently  this  was  not  an  inviting  field  in  which  to  find 
recruits  for  the  British  service. 

In  the  fall  of  1775  Lord  Dunmore  despatched  his  creature" 
Dr.  Connolly,  who  had  just  figured  so  prominently  in  the 
Western  Pennsylvania  troubles,  to  Detroit,  with  orders  to 
raise  a  regiment  of  Canadians  and  a  force  of  Indians  with  which 
to  join  his  Lordship  ;  but  Connolly's  arrest  and  imprisonment 
in  Maryland,  and  Dunmore's  precipitate  flight,  nipped  this  en- 
terprise in  the  bud.  The  next  year  Captain  de  Langlade,  of 
Green  Bay,  who  had  seen  service  in  the  French  war,  recruited 
a  motley  force  of  whites  and  Indians,  mainly  upon  the  upper 
waters,  with  which  he  descended  to  Montreal  and  joined  the 
British  army. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  men  of  the  frontier 
sat  nerveless  while  the  Indians  were  making  their  raids  and 
the  British  officers  were  seeking  to  array  the  French  against 
them.  Mention  will  not  here  be  made  of  the  minor  invasions 
Of  the  Indian  country ;  but  one  heroic  movement,  that  was 
fraught  with  large  consequences,  must  be  treated  somewhat 
at  length. 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  Virginia,  owing  to  her 
position,  her  vast  land-claims,  and  the  stage  of  civilization 
which  she  had  attained,  had  more  Western  enterprise  than 
any  other  colony.  In  1774  Dunmore's  war  gave  her  the 
"  back-lands,"  into  which  her  frontiersmen  had  been  for  some 
time  pressing.  Boone  was  a  Carolinian,  but  Kentucky  was  a 
distinctively  Virginia  colony.  In  1776  the  Virginia  legisla- 
ture erected  the  County  of  Kentucky,  and  the  next  year  a 
Virginia  judge  dispensed  justice  at  Harrodsburg.  Soon  the 
colony  was  represented  in  the  legislature  of  the  parent  state. 
While  thus  extending  her  jurisdiction  over  the  region  south- 
west of  the  Ohio,  the  Old  Dominion  did  not  forget  the  lan- 

1  Michigan  Pioneer  Collections,  III.,  12  et  seq. 


THE  NORTHWEST  IN   THE  REVOLUTION.  153 

guage  of  1609,  "  up  into  the  land  throughout  from  sea  to  sea, 
west  and  northwest." 

George  Rogers  Clark,  a  Virginian  who  had  made  Ken- 
tucky his  home,  was  endowed  with  something  of  the  general's 
and  statesman's  grasp.  While  floating  down  the  Ohio  in 
1776,  being  then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  conceived  the 
conquest  of  the  country  beyond  the  river.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  saw  the  remote  bearings  of  such  an  achievement ;  at 
least,  in  his  own  account  of  it  he  says  he  was  "  elivated  with 
the  thoughts  of  the  great  service  we  should  do  our  country  in 
some  measure  puting  an  end  to  the  Indian  war  on  our  fron- 
teers."  '  But  this  was  a  great  object.  The  savages  scattered 
through  the  Northwestern  wilderness  were  constantly  attack- 
ing at  one  point  or  another  the  long  thin  line  of  frontier  set- 
tlements ;  and  they  drew  their  supplies  of  powder  and  lead 
and  other  necessaries,  and  often  received  leaders  as  well  as 
direction,  from  the  fortified  forts,  Detroit,  Vincennes,  and  the 
rest.  Accordingly,  if  the  posts  could  be  captured,  the  Indians 
would  lose  their  rallying  points  and  supplies,  they  would  be 
overawed  and  restrained  in  a  degree,  and  the  war  on  the  fron- 
tier would  be  put  an  end  to  "  in  some  measure,"  if  not  alto- 
gether. Probably  this  was  as  far  as  Clark  saw.  But  Thomas 
Jefferson  saw  much  further.  In  a  letter  to  Clark,  the  date  of 
which  is  lost  but  that  was  written  before  the  issue  of  the 
campaign  was  known  in  Virginia,  that  great  statesman  wrote : 
"  Much  solicitude  will  be  felt  for  the  result  of  your  expedition 
to  the  Wabash ;  it  will  at  least  delay  their  expedition  to  the 
frontier-settlement,  and  if  successful  have  an  important  bear- 
ing ultimately  in  establishing  our  northwestern  boundary."  " 

Clark  says  he  had  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  taken 
pains  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  true  situation  of  the 
Northwestern  posts;  and  in  1777  he  sent  two  young  hunters  to 
spy  out  the  country  more  thoroughly,  and  especially  to  ascer- 
tain the  sentiments  of  the  habitants.  On  the  return  of  these 

1  Clark's  Campaign  in  the  Illinois,  24.  s  Ibid.,  2,  note. 


154  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

hunters  with  an  encouraging  report,  he  went  to  Williamsburg, 
then  the  capital  of  Virginia,  where  he  enlisted  Governor  Pat- 
rick Henry  and  other  leading  minds  in  a  secret  expedition  to 
the  Illinois.  Acting  under  a  vaguely  worded  law,  authorizing 
him  to  aid  "  any  expedition  against  their  Western  enemies," 
Governor  Henry  gave  Clark  some  vague  public  instruc- 
tions, directing  him  to  enlist,  in  any  county  of  the  common- 
wealth, seven  companies  of  men  who  should  act  under  his 
command  as  a  militia,  and  also  private  instructions  that  were 
much  more  full  and  definite.  He  is  to  attack  the  post  of  Kas- 
kaskia,  but  this  he  is  to  confide  to  as  few  as  possible.  If  the 
white  inhabitants  of  the  post  "  will  give  undoubted  evidence 
of  their  attachment  to  this  State  (for  it  is  certain  they  live 
within  its  limits),"  says  the  governor,  they  shall  be  treated  as 
fellow-citizens;  but  if  not,  they  must  feel  the  miseries  of  war. 
He  remarks  that  it  is  in  contemplation  to  establish  a  post  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  Boats,  provisions,  powder  and  lead, 
will  be  provided  at  Fort  Pitt.  Both  the  public  and  private 
instructions  are  dated  January  2,  1778.'  The  governor  also 
gave  the  young  captain  a  small  supply  of  money. 

Clark  immediately  recrossed  the  mountains,  and  began 
to  recruit  his  command.  The  secrecy  that  he  was  obliged  to 
maintain  made  his  undertaking  difficult  in  the  extreme.  He 
complains  bitterly  of  the  obstructions  thrown  in  his  way  by 
"  many  leading  men  in  the  fronteer,"  which  prevented  the  en- 
listment of  as  many  men  as  had  been  contemplated,  and  also 
led  to  frequent  desertions.  Overcoming  as  best  he  could  the 
difficulties  that  environed  him,  he  collected  his  feeble  com- 
mand at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.  On  June  26,  1778,  he  began 
the  descent  of  the  river.  Leaving  the  Ohio  at  Fort  Massac, 
forty  miles  above  its  mouth,  he  began  the  march  to  Kaskas- 
kia.  This  fell  into  his  hands,  July  5th,  and  Cahokia  soon 
after,  both  without  the  loss  of  a  single  life.  Clark  found  few 
Englishmen  in  these  villages,  and  the  French,  who  were  weary 

1  Appendix  to  Clark's  Campaign  in  the  Illinois. 


THE  NORTHWEST  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.  1 55 

of  British  rule,  he  had  little  difficulty  in  attaching  to  the 
American  interest.  Vincennes,  soon  after,  surrendered  to  a 
mere  proclamation,  when  there  was  not  an  American  soldier 
within  one  hundred  miles  of  the  place.  The  ease  with  which 
this  conquest  was  accomplished  was  largely  due  to  the  Kas- 
kaskia  priest,  Father  Pierre  Gibault,  who  entered  into  Clark's 
plans  with  the  greatest  warmth  and  energy.1 

"  I  now  found  myself,"  says  Clark,  "  in  possession  of  the 
whole,  in  a  country  where  I  found  I  could  do  more  real  ser- 
vice than  I  expected,  which  occasioned  my  situation  to  be 
the  more  disagreeable  as  I  wanted  men."  a  At  no  time  had 
he  had  two  hundred  men  in  his  command  ;  and  now,  the 
time  for  which  they  had  enlisted  having  expired,  and  the  im- 
mediate object  of  the  expedition  having  been  gained,  they 
were  anxious  to  return  home.  Although  the  Illinois  and  the 
Wabash  had  fallen  almost  without  a  blow,  it  was  necessary 
that  they  should  be  held  or  all  would  be  lost,  no  matter 
whether  the  situation  was  viewed  with  the  eyes  of  George 
Rogers  Clark  or  the  eyes  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  Clark  pre- 
vailed upon  one  hundred  men  to  re-enlist  for  eight  months ; 
he  then  filled  up  his  companies  with  recruits  from  the  vil- 
lages, and  sent  an  urgent  call  to  Virginia  for  re-enforcements. 

1  The  editor  of  Clark's  Campaign  in  the  Illinois  quotes  from  Judge  Law, 
Colonial  History  of  Vincennes,  the  remark  that  to  Gibault,  "next  to  Clark  and 
Vigo,  the  United  States  are  indebted  for  the  accession  of  the  States  comprised 
in  what  was  the  original  Northwest  Territory  [more]  than  to  any  other  man  " — 
33>  34,  note. 

In  1778,  St.  Louis  was  a  young  town  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  the  Spanish 
as  well  as  the  French  population  were  very  friendly  to  the  Americans.  Colonel 
Francis  Vigo  was  a  St.  Louis  merchant  who  rendered  Clark  and  the  Ameri- 
can cause  most  valuable  services.  Among  others,  he  cashed  Clark's  drafts  for 
$12,000  on  New  Orleans,  a  large  sum  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  one  hundred 
years  ago,  and  thus  enabled  him  to  keep  the  field.  Clark's  drafts  were  pro- 
tested ;  and  the  debt  due  Vigo  was  not  paid  until  1876,  and  then  after  many 
hearings  by  congressional  committees  and  protracted  litigation  in  the  United 
States  courts.  See  Tract  35  of  the  Western  Reserve  and  Northern  Ohio  His- 
torical Society,  "A  Centennial  Lawsuit,"  by  Judge  C.  C.  Baldwin. 

*  Clark's  Campaign,  36. 


156  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  salutary  influence  of  the  invasion  upon  the  Indians  was 
felt  at  once  ;  it  "  began  to  spread  among  the  nations  even  to 
the  border  of  the  lakes ; "  and  in  five  weeks  Clark  settled  a 
peace  with  ten  or  twelve  different  tribes.  With  great  ability 
Clark  outwitted  the  English,  counteracted  their  influence 
upon  the  savages,  and  kept  "  spies  continually  in  and  about 
Detroit  for  a  considerable  time."  He  even  captured  Ouiate- 
non,  which  stroke,  he  says,  "  completed  our  interest  on  the 
Wabash." 

And  now  Clark  began  really  to  feel  the  difficulties  of  his 
situation.  Destitute  of  money,  poorly  supplied,  commanding 
a  small  and  widely  scattered  force,  he  had  to  meet  and  cir- 
cumvent an  active  enemy  who  was  determined  to  regain  what 
he  had  lost.  Governor  Hamilton  projected  a  grand  campaign 
against  the  French  towns  that  had  been  captured  and  the  small 
force  that  held  them.  The  feeble  issue  was  the  capture,  in 
December,  1778,  of  Vincennes,  which  was  occupied  by  but 
two  Americans.  Clark,  who  was  in  the  Illinois  at  the  time 
of  this  disaster,  at  once  put  his  little  force  in  motion  for  the 
Wabash,  knowing,  he  says,  that  if  he  did  not  take  Hamilton, 
Hamilton  would  take  him  ;  and,  February  25,  1779,  at  the 
end  of  a  march  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  that  ranks  in 
peril  and  hardship  with  Arnold's  winter  march  to  Canada,  he 
again  captured  the  town,  the  fort,  the  governor,  and  his  whole 
command.  Hamilton  was  sent  to  Virginia  a  prisoner  of  war, 
where  he  was  found  guilty  of  treating  American  prisoners 
with  cruelty,  and  of  offering  the  Indians  premiums  for  scalps, 
but  none  for  prisoners. 

American  statesmen  and  soldiers  perfectly  understood  the 
importance  of  Detroit.  Congress  considered  the  feasibility 
of  capturing  it  as  early  as  April,  1776,  and  often  returned  to 
the  subject  thereafter.  But  nothing  was  done,  or  really  at- 
tempted, in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  for  want  of  men,  mu- 
nitions, and  money.  Washington  gave  the  subject  his  earnest 
attention.  In  December,  1778,  he  considered  it  in  connection 
with  a  grand  invasion  of  Canada,  then  projected.  In  January, 


THE   NORTHWEST   IN   THE   REVOLUTION.  1 57 

1779,  when  a  Northwestern  expedition,  under  General  Mcln- 
tosh,  was  proposed,  he  said  the  best  way  to  deal  with  the  Ind- 
ians was  to  carry  the  war  into  their  own  country.  In  April  of 
the  same  year  he  inquired  of  Colonel  Broadhead  the  best  time 
to  attempt  a  march  to  Detroit,  and  suggested  the  winter,  be- 
cause the  British  would  not  then  be  able  to  use  their  naval 
force  on  Lake  Erie.1  Naturally,  Clark's  achievement,  since  it 
made  the  reduction  of  the  post  seem  more  feasible,  led  to 
more  serious  consideration  of  the  subject.  Clark  himself  con- 
sidered his  work  only  half  done,  and  was  very  ambitious  to 
lead  an  army  through  the  wilderness  to  the  gateway  of  the 
Northwest.  More  than  once  a  force  seemed  almost  on  the 
point  of  starting.  A  joint  Virginia  and  continental  expedi- 
tion was  at  one  time  contemplated.  But  the  same  causes 
that  operated  to  defeat  the  earlier  attempts  continued  to 
operate.  Clark,  who  probably  did  not  appreciate  the  differ- 
ence between  seizing  Detroit  and  seizing  Kaskaskia,  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  enterprise,  and  Detroit  remained  in 
British  hands  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and,  in  fact,  until  l 
"  Detroit  lost  for  a  few  hundred  men,"  was  his  pathetic  la- 
ment as  he  surrendered  an  enterprise  that  lay  near  his  heart. 
Had  he  been  able  to  achieve  it,  he  would  have  won  and 
held  the  whole  Northwest.  As  it  was  he  won  and  held 
the  Illinois  and  the  Wabash  in  the  name  of  Virginia  and 
of  the  United  States.  The  bearing  of  this  conquest  on  the 
question  of  western  boundaries  will  be  considered  in  another 
place,  but  here  it  is  pertinent  to  remark  that  the  American 
Commissioners,  in  1782,  at  Paris,  could  plead  uti  possidctis  in 
reference  to  much  of  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio,  for  the 
flag  of  the  Republic,  raised  over  it  by  George  Rogers  Clark, 
had  never  been  lowered.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  in  our 
history  a  case  of  an  officer  accomplishing  results  that  were  so 
great  and  far-reaching  with  so  small  a  force.  Clark's  later  life 
is  little  to  his  credit,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  he 

1  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Washington,  VL,  120,  156,  225. 


158  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

rendered  the  American  cause  and  civilization  a  very  great  ser- 
vice. 

All  this  time  the  British  were  not  idle.  War-party  after 
war-party  was  sent  against  the  American  border.  In  1780  a 
grand  expedition  was  organized  at  Detroit  and  sent  to  Ken- 
tucky, under  the  command  of  Captain  Bird.  But  it  accom- 
plished nothing  commensurate  with  its  magnitude  and  cost. 
Great  efforts  were  made  to  raise  a  white  contingent,  but  they 
brought  together  only  some  eighty  men.  Judge  Walker  finds, 
among  the  bills  for  supplies  furnished  the  British  Indian  De- 
partment, items  that  plainly  reveal  the  character  of  Bird's 
command ;  viz.,  476  dozen  scalping-knives,  1,206  pounds  of 
vermilion,  21,663  yards  tinsel  roll,  301  dozen  looking-glasses, 
8,200  ear-bobs,  etc. 

The  Northwest  had  been  won  by  a  Virginia  army,  com- 
manded by  a  Virginia  officer,  put  in  the  field  at  Virginia's  ex- 
pense. Governor  Henry  had  promptly  announced  the  con- 
quest to  the  Virginia  delegates  in  Congress.  He  spoke  of 
Detroit  as  being  "  at  present  ctef  ended  by  so  inconsiderable  a 
garrison,  and  so  scantily  furnished  with  provisions,  for  which 
they  must  be  still  more  distressed  by  the  loss  of  supplies  from 
the  Illinois,  that  it  might  be  reduced  by  any  number  of  men 
above  five  hundred,"  and  closed  his  interesting  communi- 
cation with  the  words :  "  Were  it  possible  to  secure  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  prevent  the  English  attempts  up  that  river  by 
seizing  some  post  on  it,  peace  with  the  Indians  would  seem 
to  be  secured."  *  In  the  same  letter  he  also  expressed  much 
gratification  at  the  spirit  in  which  Clark's  command  had  been 
received  by  the  French  settlers.  But  before  Patrick  Henry 
wrote  this  letter  Virginia  had  welded  the  last  link  in  her 
chain  of  title  to  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio.  In  October, 
1778,  her  Legislature  declared:  "All  the  citizens  of  the  com- 
monwealth of  Virginia,  who  are  actually  settlers  there,  or 
who  shall  hereafter  be  settled  on  the  west  side  of  the  Ohio, 

1  Tyler  :  Patrick  Henry,  230,  231. 


THE   NORTHWEST   IN   THE   REVOLUTION.  159 

shall  be  included  in  the  district  of  Kentucky,  which  shall  be 
called  Illinois  County."  Nor  was  this  all.  Soon  after,  Gov- 
ernor Henry  appointed  a  lieutenant-commandant  for  the  new 
county,  with  full  instructions  for  carrying  on  the  government.1 
The  French  settlements  remained  under  Virginia  jurisdiction 
until  March,  1784. 

Attention  should  more  particularly  be  drawn  to  the  spirit 
in  which  the  French  settlers  beyond  the  Ohio  received  the 
Americans.  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  had  they  actively  taken 
the  side  of  the  British,  Clark  could  never  have  done  his  work. 
The  ancient  antipathy  to  the  British ;  a  desire  to  see  the 
work  of  1763  apparently  undone,  although  it  was  only  being 
perfected;  the  French  alliance  of  1778,  which  made  them 
think  they  were  again  opposing  the  old  enemy — these,  with 
the  intelligent  and  spirited  conduct  of  the  Kaskaskia  priest, 
decided  the  habitants  of  the  Illinois  and  the  Wabash.  In 
the  far  North,  where  the  straggling  white  men  were  more 
reckless,  and  at  Detroit,  the  centre  of  British  influence,  the 
French  were  more  favorably  disposed  to  the  British.  But 
even  at  Detroit  the  British  officers  complained  of  the  apathy 
of  the  Canadians,  and  the  small  number  of  volunteers  en- 
rolled in  the  expeditions  there  organized  confirms  the  com- 
plaints. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  in  the  end,  the  set- 
tlements upon  which  the  British  so  much  relied  proved  a 
means  of  their  destruction. 

In  future  chapters  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  these 
French  settlements  again.  But  this  is  the  place  to  say  that 
the  welcome  which  they  gave  the  Americans  did  not  arrest 
their  fate  or  retard  their  decline.  The  breath  of  Anglo-Amer- 
ican civilization  seemed  almost  as  fatal  to  them  as  to  the  Ind- 
ians themselves.  Louisiana  and  the  fur  lands  continued  to 
draw  away  their  strength  ;  and  scarcely  a  trace  of  them  can 
be  found  in  Northwestern  life  to-day.  Champlain  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  British  Province  of  Quebec ;  the  State  of 

1  Edwards  :  History  of  Illinois,  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,  5,  7. 


l6o  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Louisiana  is  the  child  of  the  French  colony;  but  the  habi- 
tants of  the  Northwest  seem  as  effectually  lost  in  the  past  as 
the  Mound  Builders. 

Although  the  French  settlements  did  not  become  an  ele- 
ment in  the  civilization  of  the  Northwest,  they  will  always  re- 
main an  attractive  and,  in  many  respects,  a  pleasing  chapter  of 
American  history.  The  story  of  Northwestern  discovery  and 
exploration  will  long  be  drawn  upon  for  examples  of  heroic 
endurance,  high  courage,  and  unyielding  devotion.  It  will 
long  point  the  moral  that  sound  ideas  and  practical  purposes 
are  as  essential  to  success  as  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  The 
French  colonies  as  much  surpass  the  English  in  poetic  ele- 
ments as  the  English  surpass  them  in  strength  and  perma- 
nence ;  and  the  long  procession  of  discoverers,  explorers, 
priests,  coureurs  des  bois,  traders,  voyageurs,  soldiers,  and  ha- 
bitants, with  its  retinue  of  bedizened  savages,  will  stir  the 
hearts  of  those  who  respond  to  high  qualities,  and  catch  the 
attention  of  those  who  have  an  eye  for  the  picturesque. 
French  life  was  marked  by  a  good  humor,  contentment,  sim- 
plicity, freedom  from  cankering  care  and  desire  for  acquisi- 
tion, hospitality,  childlike  faith,  and  sociability  that  make  it 
very  attractive.  Cable  has  touched  some  of  its  phases  in  his 
Creole  pictures.  Longfellow  idealizes  some  of  its  traits,  as 
well  as  much  of  its  scenery,  in  "  Evangeline."  The  descrip- 
tions written  by  tourists  and  United  States  officers  at  the 
time  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  are  more  prosaic,  but  still  have 
many  elements  of  charm.  Detroit  stood  the  shock  of  the 
American  emigration  better  than  any  other  of  the  Western 
posts ;  and  many  of  the  striking  features  of  the  old  French 
town  remained  until  they  were  fixed  in  enduring  colors.  Mr. 
Bela  Hubbard's  chapters,  entitled  "French  Habitants  of  the 
Detroit,"  are  a  series  of  delightful  pictures  of  the  "pipe-stem 
farms,"  the  uncouth  ploughs  and  carryalls,  the  pony-carts,  the 
races,  the  apple-orchards,  the  cider-mills,  and  ancient  pear-trees 
whose  origin  no  one  can  explain,  the  quaint  houses,  the  wind- 
mills, the  jaunty  costumes,  the  fishing,  the  language,  religion, 


THE   NORTHWEST   IN   THE   REVOLUTION.  l6l 

manners,  and  recreations,  and  the  voyageurs,  with  a  few  speci- 
mens of  their  songs.1 

But  while  the  French  life  has  so  thoroughly  disappeared 
from  the  old  Northwest,  some  of  its  wilder  aspects  may  still 
be  seen  far  north  in  the  Great  Fur  Land.  The  voyageur, 
for  example,  has  disappeared  from  the  streams  of  Michi- 
gan and  Wisconsin ;  but  he  still  paddles  his  canoe  on  the 
rivers  falling  into  Hudson's  Bay  and  on  the  affluents  of  the 
Mackenzie.  His  blood  is  more  mixed,  his  language  more 
corrupt,  and  he  is  more  a  savage  than  one  hundred  years  ago ; 
but  he  still  preserves  the  main  features  of  the  type.  A 
traveller  who  has  visited  those  haunts  describes  him  as  merry, 
light-hearted,  obliging,  hospitable,  and  extravagant;  when 
idle,  devoted  to  singing,  dancing,  gossip,  and  drinking  to  in- 
toxication ;  having  vanity  as  his  besetting  sin;  intensely  su- 
perstitious ;  completely  under  the  influence  of  his  priest ;  de- 
voted to  the  forms  of  religion,  grossly  immoral,  often  dishon- 
est, and  generally  untrustworthy ;  with  no  sense  of  duty  in 
his  daily  life ;  controlled  by  passion  and  caprice,  and  having 
little  aptitude  for  continuous  labor.  "  No  man  will  labor  more 
cheerfully  and  gallantly  at  the  severe  toil  pertinent  to  his  call- 
ing ;  but  those  efforts  are  of  short  duration,  and  when  they 
are  ended,  his  chief  desire  is  to  do  nothing  but  eat,  drink, 
smoke,  and  be  merry — all  of  them  acts  in  which  he  greatly 
excels." 8 

1  "  The  labor  of  the  oar,"  says  Mr.  Hubbard,  "was  relieved  by  songs,  to  which 
each  stroke  kept  time,  with  added  vigor.  The  poet  Moore  has  well  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  voyageurs1  melodious  chant,  in  his  '  Boat-song  upon  the  St.  Law- 
rence.' But  to  appreciate  its  wild  sweetness,  one  should  listen  to  the  melody  as 
it  wings  its  way  over  the  waters,  softened  by  distance,  yet  every  measured  cadence 
falling  distinct  upon  the  ear." — Memorials  of  a  Half  Century,  107-154. 

9  Robinson  :  The  Great  Fur  Land,  108,  109. 
II 


X. 

THE    UNITED    STATES  WREST    THE    NORTH- 
WEST  FROM   ENGLAND. 

THE  SECOND  TREATY  OF  PARIS. 

ON  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  the  thirteen  British  colonies 
in  North  America,  by  their  chosen  representatives  in  general 
congress  assembled,  solemnly  published  and  declared  that 
they  were,  and  of  a  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
States.  By  this  act  they  assumed  a  separate  and  equal  place 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth  as  the  United  States  of 
America.  Less  than  two  years  thereafter — that  is,  on  February 
6,  1778 — the  King  of  France  entered  into  two  treaties  with 
the  new  nation :  one  of  alliance,  and  one  of  amity  and  com- 
merce ;  the  essential  and  direct  end  of  the  first  being,  as  de- 
clared in  the  second  article,  "to  maintain  effectually  the  lib- 
erty, "sovereignty,  and  independence  absolute  and  unlimited 
of  the  said  United  States,  as  well  in  matters  of  government 
as  of  commerce."  Article  5  stipulated  that,  if  the  United 
States  should  conquer  the  British  in  the  Northern  parts  of 
America,  or  the  Bermuda  Islands,  those  countries  or  islands 
should  be  confederated  with,  or  be  made  dependent  upon,  the 
said  United  States.  Article  7  stipulated  that  if  His  Majesty 
the  King  of  France  should  attack  any  of  the  islands  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  belonging  to  Great  Britain,  or  islands  near 
that  gulf,  such  islands  should,  in  case  of  success,  appertain  to 
the  Crown  of  France.  In  Article  6  the  king  renounced  the 
possession  of  the  Bermudas,  as  well  as  those  parts  of  North 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     163 

America  that,  by  the  treaty  of  1763,  were  acknowledged  to 
belong  to  Great  Britain,  or  to  the  United  States,  before 
called  British  colonies,  or  which  then  were,  or  had  lately 
been,  under  the  power  of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain.  By 
Article  1 1  the  United  States  guaranteed  to  His  Majesty  his 
present  possessions  in  America,  as  well  as  those  he  might 
acquwe  by  the  future  treaty  of  peace ;  while  His  Majesty 
guaranteed  to  the  United  States  not  only  their  liberty,  sover- 
eignty, and  independence  in  both  matters  of  government  and 
commerce,  but  also  their  possessions,  and  the  conquests  that 
they  might  make  from  Great  Britain  during  the  war,  as  pro- 
vided in  the  previous  article.  The  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence bore  the  caption :  "  The  unanimous  Declaration  of  the 
United  States  of  America ; "  the  names  of  the  States  were 
given,  with  the  signers  at  the  end.  One  of  the  French  treaties 
was  made  with  "  the  thirteen  United  States  of  North  Amer- 
ica," the  other  with  "  the  United  States  of  North  America  ;  " 
the  names  of  the  States  being  added  in  both  cases.  Beyond 
these  general  terms  neither  the  Declaration  nor  the  treaties 
contained  one  word  describing  the  new  nation.  Were  the 
terms  clothed  with  such  definite  meaning  that  all  the  world 
knew  just  what  the  new  nation  was  ? 

In  a  social  and  political  sense  "  the  thirteen  British  col- 
onies in  North  America,"  previous  to  1776,  stood  for  clear 
and  definite  ideas.  They  were  the  thirteen  communities 
planted  by  England,  at  least  by  Englishmen,  in  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  centuries  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
North  America,  between  the  St.  Croix  and  Altamaha  Rivers  ; 
communities  that  had  an  individual  history  and  a  collective 
history  which  plainly  marked  them  off,  to  the  minds  of 
Europeans,  from  the  French  settlements  to  the  north  and  the 
Spanish  settlements  to  the  south.  Nor  did  they  lose  their 
individuality  even  when  these  French  and  Spanish  settle- 
ments, after  1763,  took  rank  with  them  as  American  colonies 
of  the  British  Crown.  Who  were  the  people  that  put  forth 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  therefore  well  under- 


164  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

derstood  wherever  that  Declaration  was  read  ;  as  it  was,  like- 
wise, who  entered  into  the  treaties  with  France  in  1778. 

But  what  the  names  found  in  the  Declaration  and  French 
treaties  stood  for  in  a  geographical  and  territorial  sense  was 
not  equally  plain.  "  Massachusetts,"  "  Virginia,"  "  Carolina," 
for  example,  had  meant  very  different  things  at  different 
times.  Nor  did  they  represent  definitely  ascertained  units  in 
1776.  Probably,  too,  there  were  no  two  States  lying  side  by 
side  between  which  there  were  not  pending  boundary-dis- 
putes. The  chapters  on  the  "  Thirteen  Colonies  as  Constituted 
by  the  Royal  Charters  "  make  that  sufficiently  plain.  Then 
there  arose  sharp  controversies  as  to  the  division  and  pro- 
prietorship of  the  country  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
But  above  these  internal  territorial  questions  towered  one 
that  may  be  called  external,  viz. :  "  What  is  the  extent  of  the 
thirteen  States  of  America  considered  as  a  whole  ?  "  Neither 
the  Declaration  nor  the  treaties  contained  any  answer ;  so  far 
from  it,  the  name  used  in  these  documents  might  mean,  and 
soon  came  to  mean,  very  different  things  to  different  people. 
For  instance,  although  the  King  of  France  entered  into  the 
defensive  alliance  of  1778  solely  to  make  sure  and  effectual 
the  liberty,  sovereignty,  and  absolute  independence  of  the 
United  States,  in  less  than  two  years  he  used  his  influence  to 
induce  his  allies  to  consent  to  the  Alleghany  Mountains  as  a 
western  boundary,  which  would  have  cut  off  fully  one  half  of 
the  territory  that  the  United  States  claimed,  and  that  Great 
Britain  ultimately  conceded.  Again,  the  United  States  de- 
scribed in  1779  in  the  instructions  to  John  Adams,  commis- 
sioner to  negotiate  a  peace,  are  not  geographically  the  same 
United  States  whose  independence  was  acknowledged  at  Paris 
in  1782.  Hence  it  is  plain  that  England  might,  the  day  after 
the  French  treaties  were  signed,  or  even  the  day  after  the  Dec- 
laration was  published,  have  conceded  the  independence  of 
the  States  in  the  very  terms  used  in  those  documents,  and 
still  have  left  unsettled  a  territorial  question  larger  than  the 
one  which  brought  on  the  French  and  Indian  war  in  1754.  It 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     165 

is  quite  clear,  therefore,  that  in  1776  the  United  States  were 
not  as  definitely  marked  off  from  other  nations  territorially 
as  they  were  from  other  peoples  politically  and  socially. 

At  the  beginning  the  United  States  were  a  purely  federal  * 
nation  and  government.  They  could  not  touch  directly  a  sin- 
gle citizen,  a  single  dollar,  or  a  single  foot  of  land.  They 
were  dependent  upon  the  States  individually  for  a  Congress, 
a  treasury,  an  army,  and  a  capital.  The  States  made  up  the 
United  States.  At  different  times,  in  the  course  of  the  war, 
Congress  offered  land-bounties  for  volunteers  in  the  conti- 
nental line,  but  when  the  offers  were  made  Congress  had  no 
lands,  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Northwestern  cessions, 
it  would  have  been  compelled  to  ask  the  States  for  special 
grants  with  which  to  satisfy  them.  'When  the  time  came  to 
instruct  the  national  representatives  abroad  in  regard  to  the 
national  limits,  the  federal  principle  was  strictly  followed. 
Hence  Mr.  Jay,  who  went  to  Spain  in  1779,  was  instructed, 
October  4,  1780,  to  insist  upon  the  Mississippi  River  because 
it  was  "  the  boundary  of  several  States  in  the  Union."  On 
January  8,  1782,  a  committee  of  which  Mr.  Madison  was  a 
member,  to  which  had  been  referred  certain  papers  in  regard 
to  the  prospective  negotiations  for  peace  with  His  Britannic 
Majesty,  thus  stated  the  rule  by  which  the  national  boun- 
daries should  be  ascertained  : 

"  Under  his  authority  the  limits  of  these  States,  while  in  the 
character  of  colonies,  were  established  ;  to  these  limits  the 

'As  Mr.  G.  T.  Curtis  points  out,  the  term  "federal"  or  "federalist"  has 
been  used  in  our  politics  in  three  distinct  senses  :  First,  in  its  philosophical  sense, 
in  that  of  federal  in  distinction  from  national ;  second,  in  that  of  a  supporter  of 
the  Constitution,  when  it  was  before  the  people  for  their  adoption ;  third,  in  that 
of  a  member  of  the  political  party  at  the  head  of  which  stood  Washington.  The 
three  meanings  all  appeared  within  the  limits  of  a  few  years.  In  1787  Hamilton 
was  not  a  Federalist,  because  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  the  Confederation, 
and  desirous  of  a  National  Government ;  in  1788  he  was  a  Federalist,  because  he 
desired  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  he  continued  a  Federalist,  because 
he  favored  a  particular  political  policy.  History  of  the  Constitution,  IL,497. 
The  word  is  used  above  in  its  proper  philosophical  sense. 


1 66  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

United  States,  considered  as  independent  sovereignties,  have 
succeeded.  Whatsoever  territorial  rights,  therefore,  belonged 
to  them  before  the  Revolution  were  necessarily  devolved  upon 
them  at  the  era  of  independence." 

Then  follows  a  long  argument  to  show  that  this  principle 
would  give  the  United  States  the  territories  that  they 
claimed  in  the  instructions  soon  to  be  mentioned.1  This  re- 
port was  referred  to  a  second  committee,  which  reported  it 
back,  August  i6th  following,  with  a  mass  of  "facts  and  obser- 
vations "  sustaining  its  positions.  This  document  covers  forty 
pages  of  the  printed  journal,  and  is  the  best  statement  extant 
of  the  territorial  rights  of  the  States.  It  makes  very  promi- 
nent the  fact  that  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
Virginia,  and  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia  claimed  to  the 
Mississippi  River.  This  was  pleading  the  royal  charters  as 
modified  by  the  treaty  of  1763.  But  if  His  Majesty  should 
reply  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  he,  and  not  the  colo- 
nies, was  seized  of  the  Western  country,  the  American  Com- 
missioners coulcTmeet  the  claim  with  the  argument  that — 

"  The  character  in  which  he  was  so  seized  was  that  of  king 
of  the  thirteen  colonies  collectively  taken.  Being  stripped  of 
this  character,  its  [his]  rights  descended  to  the  United  States 
for  the  following  reasons  :  (i)  The  United  States  are  to  be  con- 
sidered in  many  respects  as  one  undivided  independent  nation, 
inheriting  those  rights  which  the  King  of  Great  Britain  en- 
joyed as  not  appertaining  to  any  one  particular  State,  while  he 
was  what  they  are  now,  the  superintending  governor  of  the 
whole.  (2)  The  King  of  Great  Britain  has  been  dethroned  as 
King  of  the  United  States  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the  whole. 
(3)  The  very  country  in  question  hath  been  conquered  through 
the  means  of  the  common  labors  of  the  United  States."8 

Under  the  third  specification  the  reference  is,  of  course,  to 
the  conquest  of  George  Rogers  Clark. 

1  The  Secret  Journals,  IIL,  151  et  seq. 
3  Ibid.,  198,  199. 


THE  NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     l6/ 

In  these  reports  the  charge  that  the  from  sea-to-sea  char- 
ters were  due  to  geographical  ignorance  is  rebutted  ;  the  view 
that  they  sprang  from  a  desire  to  hold  the  West  against  Spain 
is  advanced;1  and  the  theory  that  the  proclamation  of  1763 
had  worked  a  limitation  of  the  colonies  on  the  west  is  ex- 
pressly set  aside  in  favor  of  the  theory  held  by  Washington 
in  1767,  viz.,  a  temporary  device  for  quieting  the  Indians. 
The  stress  laid  on  the  chartered  extension  of  certain  States  to 
the  West  becomes  all  the  more  significant  when  we  remem- 
ber that  for  several  years  some  of  the  States,  and  particularly 
Maryland,  had  been  denying  that  the  West  belonged  to  the 
claimant  States  at  all.  At  the  same  time,  the  American  com- 
missioners were  to  plead  uti  possidetis,  growing  out  of  the 
Clark  conquest  of  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio,  if  the  appeal 
to  the  charters  did  not  prove  effectual. 

The  events  that  at  last  compelled  England  to  treat  for 
peace  are  not  pertinent  to  the  present  inquiry.  The  year 
1782  tt>und  ner  ready  to  treat ;  the  final  commission  given  to 
Mr.  OsWald,  her  principal  representative  in  the  Paris  discus- 
sions with  the  Americans,  owing  to  the  insistance  of  Mr. 
Jay,  formally  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United 
States ;  and  this  acknowledgment  became  the  point  of  de- 
parture for  the  later  negotiation.  But  all  this  left  many  very 
difficult  questions  to  be  adjusted,  such  as  the  fisheries,  com- 
pensation to  Loyalists,  and  especially  the  boundaries. 

The  instructions  given  to  John  Adams  by  Congress,  bearing 
date  August  14,  1779,  are  the  earliest  authoritative  statement 
of  the  territorial  claims  of  the  United  States  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  Only  disappointment  came  from  Mr.  Adams's 
mission  to  Europe  at  that  time ;  but  these  instructions  were 

1  "  Had  the  interval  between  those  seas  been  precisely  ascertained,  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  King  of  England  would  have  divided  the  chartered  boundaries 
now  in  question  into  more  governments.  For  perhaps  his  principal  object  at  that 
time  was  to  acquire  by  that  of  occupancy  which  originated  in  this  Western  World, 
to  wit,  by  charters,  a  title  of  the  lands  comprehended  therein  against  foreign 
powers." — The  Secret  Journals,  IIL,  177. 


168  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

substantially  those  under  which  the  commissioners  acted  in 
1782.  They  claimed  on  the  northeast  the  St.  Johns  River;  on 
the  north,  the  proclamation  line  of  1763  as  far  as  the  foot  of 
Lake  Nipissing,  and  beyond  that  point  a  straight  line  drawn 
to  the  source  of  the  Mississippi ;  on  the  west,  the  Mississippi 
to  parallel  31°  north;  on  the  south,  the  northern  boundary  of 
Florida  as  established  in  1763;  and  on  the  east,  the  ocean. 
Mr.  Adams  was  instructed  "  strongly  to  contend  that  the 
whole  of  the  said  countries  and  islands  lying  within  the 
boundaries  aforesaid  ...  be  yielded  to  the  powers  of 
the  States  to  which  they  respectively  belong,"  a  clear  out- 
cropping of  the  federal  idea ;  "  but,  notwithstanding  the  clear 
right  of  these  States,  and  the  importance  of  the  object,  yet 
they  are  so  much  influenced  by  the  dictates  of  religion  and 
humanity,  and  so  desirous  of  complying  with  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  their  allies,  that  if  the  line  to  be  drawn  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Lake  Nipissing  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
cannot  be  obtained  without  continuing  the  war  for  th^:  pur- 
pose, you  are  hereby  empowered  to  agree  to  some  ot^ier  line 
between  that  point  and  the  River  Mississippi ;  provided  the 
same  shall  in  no  part  thereof  be  to  the  southward  of  lati- 
tude 45°  north."  Similarly,  Mr.  Adams  was  authorized  to 
consent  that  the  northeastern  boundary  be  afterward  adjusted 
by  commissioners  duly  appointed  for  that  purpose,  if  the  St. 
Johns  could  not  be  obtained.  The  cession  of  Canada  and 
Nova  Scotia  was  declared  "  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
peace  and  commerce  of  the  United  States,  but  it  should  not 
be  made  an  ultimatum." 1 

Save  the  ocean  and  the  St.  Johns,  these  were  the  lines  es- 
tablished by  the  French  treaty  and  the  royal  proclamation  of 
1763.  The  line  northwest  of  the  St.  Lawrence  could  be  de- 
fended on  the  ground  that  the  grant  to  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany was  bounded  north  by  the  forty-fifth  parallel  in  1606, 
and  by  the  forty-eighth  parallel  in  1620.  The  source  of  the 

1  The  Secret  Journals,  IL,  225-228. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     169 

Mississippi  had  not  been  discovered  in  1779,  but  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  at  least  as  far  north  as  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 
Had  this  supposition  been  correct,  the  Nipissing  line  would 
have  excluded  Great  Britain  from  all  the  great  lakes  but 
Lake  Superior ;  the  real  Nipissing  line,  however,  would  have 
left  nearly  the  whole  of  that  lake,  with  large  parts  of  Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota  to  that  power.  At  the  close  of 
the  Revolution  the  Mississippi  was  the  natural,  and,  we  may 
say,  indispensable  western  boundary  of  the  United  States ; 
next  to  independence,  which  was,  in  fact,  already  conced- 
ed, our  extension  to  that  river  was  the  most  important  ques- 
tion involved  in  the  negotiation,  far  transcending  the  St.  Johns, 
compensation  to  the  Loyalists,  and  even  the  fisheries.  This 
was  the  question,  whether  the  trustee  commissioned  twenty 
years  before  to  transfer  the  West  from  the  France  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  to  the  free  people  who  were  making  for  humanity 
a  new  life  in  North  America,  should  execute  the  commission. 
On  the  British  side  the  negotiation  was  opened  by  Mr. 
Oswald,  under  the  direction  of  the  Rockingham  ministry ;  on 
the  American  side,  by  Dr.  Franklin.  The  promptness  with 
which  the  British  Commissioner  consented  to  all  the  boun- 
daries of  the  Adams  instructions  appeared  to  show  that  the 
trustee  was  ready  to  transfer  the  West  without  objection.  In 
fact,  those  boundaries  were  incorporated  in  the  treaty  draft 
sent  to  London  as  late  as  the  early  days  of  October.  Nor  is 
it  probable  that  these  lines  would  have  been  seriously  ob- 
jected to  if  the  courts  of  Paris  and  Madrid  had  not  meddled 
with  the  question.  Before  taking  up  that  topic,  however,  at- 
tention must  be  drawn  to  another  fact  that  strikingly  illus- 
trates the  pliable  temper  of  Mr.  Oswald,  as  well  as  the  yield- 
ing spirit  of  the  Court  of  London  in  the  first  stage  of  the 
negotiations.  Dr.  Franklin  actually  proposed  that  the  British 
Crown  should  cede  the  whole  of  Canada  to  the  United  States.1 


1  "The  territory  of  the  United  States  and  that  of  Canada,  by  long  extended 
frontiers,  touch  each  other.     The  settlers  on  the  frontiers  of  the  American  prov- 


I/O  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

This  proposition  was  finally  rejected  on  the  one  side,  and 
dropped  on  the  other,  but  for  a  time  there  seemed  to  be  a 
probability  that  the  cession  would  actually  be  made.  Mr. 
Oswald  certainly  listened  to  it  with  favor,  and  he  reported 
the  British  ministers,  to  whom  he  communicated  the  proposi- 
tion, as  not  offering  particular  objection. 

In  previous  chapters  we  have  seen  that  in  the  sixteenth 
century  Spain  despised  her  grand  opportunity  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  that  in  the  seventeenth  she 
allowed  it  to  pass  quietly  into  the  hands  of  France.  At  the 
close  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  the  western  half  of  the 
great  valley,  with  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  passed  into  her  hands ;  but  this  was  only  a  partial 
recovery  of  what  she  had  before  lost,  and  was  a  compensation 
for  Florida,  that  she  was  obliged  to  cede  to  England  in  ex- 
change for  Havana. 

Responding  to  the  pressing  intercessions  of  France,  and  to 
the  promptings  of  her  own  ambition,  Spain  declared  war 
against  England  in  June,  1779.  In  America  she  hoped  to  re- 
cover Florida  and  to  strengthen  her  position  on  the  Missis- 


inces  are  generally  the  most  disorderly  of  the  people,  who,  being  far  removed 
from  the  eye  and  control  of  their  respective  governments,  are  more  bold  in  com- 
mitting offences  against  neighbors  and  are  forever  occasioning  complaints  and 

furnishing  matter  for  fresh  differences  between  their  States 

"  Britain  possesses  Canada.  Her  chief  advantage  from  that  possession  consists 
in  the  trade  for  peltry.  Her  expenses  in  governing  and  defending  that  settlement 
must  be  considerable.  It  might  be  humiliating  to  her  to  give  it  up  on  the  demand 
of  America.  Perhaps  America  will  not  demand  it.  Some  of  her  political  rulers 
may  consider  the  fear  of  such  a  neighbor  as  a  means  of  keeping  the  thirteen 
States  more  united  among  themselves  and  more  attentive  to  military  discipline. 
But,  on  the  mind  of  the  people  in  general,  would  it  not  have  an  excellent  effect  if 
Britain  should  voluntarily  offer  to  give  up  this  province  ;  though  on  these  condi- 
tions :  That  she  shall  in  all  times  coming  have  and  enjoy  the  right  of  free 
trade  thither,  unencumbered  with  any  duties  whatsoever ;  that  so  much  of  the 
vacant  lands  there  shall  be  sold  as  will  raise  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  houses 
burnt  by  the  British  troops  and  their  Indians,  and  also  to  indemnify  the  Royal- 
ists for  the  confiscation  of  their  estates." — Diplomatic  Correspondence,  III.,  388 
et  seq. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     I/ 1 

sippi.  How  thoroughly  these  projects  had  been  thought  out 
at  that  time  may  be  questionable ;  but  Spain  was  careful  to 
demand  in  her  engagement  with  France  a  stipulation  that  left 
her  free  to  exact  from  the  United  States,  "  as  the  price  of  her 
friendship,  a  renunciation  of  every  part  of  the  basin  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  lakes,  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  of  all  the  land  between  that  river  and  the  Alleghanies." l 
Hoping  to  effect  treaties  with  the  Court  of  Madrid  similar  to 
those  already  effected  with  the  Court  of  Paris,  Congress  de- 
spatched John  Jay  as  an  envoy  at  the  end  of  the  year  1779, 
authorizing  him  to  guarantee  to  His  Catholic  Majesty,  Flor- 
ida, East  and  West,  if  he  should  conquer  it  and  the  fortunes 
of  war  should  leave  it  in  his  hands  at  the  peace  :  "  Provided 
always,  that  the  United  States  shall  enjoy  the  free  navigation 
of  the  River  Mississippi  into  and  from  the  sea."  He  was  also 
particularly  to  endeavor  to  obtain  some  convenient  port  or 
ports  below  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude  on  the 
Mississippi  for  all  merchant-vessels,  goods,  wares,  and  mer- 
chandises belonging  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States.4 
The  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  already  a  practical 
question.  In  1779  both  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  had  con- 
siderable populations  west  of  the  mountains;  settlements  were 
springing  up  in  the  valleys  of  the  Holston  and  the  Kentucky, 
while  Louisville  dates  from  the  George  Rogers  Clark  expe- 
dition ;  and  there  were  the  old  French  settlements  on  the 
Wabash  and  in  the  Illinois  that  had  always  enjoyed  the  free 
use  of  the  great  river.  By  that  time,  too,  there  were  several 
American  merchants  in  New  Orleans — men  from  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia;  and  these  merchants,  in  the 
years  1776-78,  with  the  consent  of  the  Spanish  governor, 
shipped  arms  and  munitions  up  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  to 
Pittsburg.  Plainly,  therefore,  Congress  was  simply  doing  its 
duty  in  looking  out  for  the  interests  of  the  scattered  settle- 


1  Bancroft :  History,  VI.,  183.     Boston,  1879. 
8  The  Secret  Journals,  II.,  261  et  seq. 


THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ments  beyond  the  mountains.  But  the  Spanish  Court  would 
not  listen  to  the  overture,  nor  receive  Mr.  Jay  as  an  accred- 
ited envoy.  The  reasons  that  controlled  its  conduct  are  a 
material  part  of  this  chapter  of  Western  history, 
v,  First,  the  war  was  proving  to  be  much  more  protracted 
and  more  costly  than  France  and  Spain  had  anticipated ;  and 
at  the  opening  of  1780  they  desired  nothing  so  much  as  a 
speedy  peace,  provided  measurably  satisfactory  terms  could  be 
made.  This  desire  led  France  to  wish  a  full  alliance  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  since  such  an  alliance  would 
lead  to  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  while  it  lasted  ; 
and  it  would  no  doubt  have  had  the  same  effect  upon  Spain, 
but  for  her  dread  of  everything  that  touched,  or  seemed  to 
touch,  her  own  interests  on  the  Mississippi.  France  there- 
fore began  to  exert  a  steady  pressure  upon  Congress,  to  in- 
duce that  body  to  recede  from  its  demand  for  the  free  navi- 
gation of  the  river,  and  Congress,  yielding  to  the  pressure  and 
to  the  depression  of  feeling  produced  by  the  wasting  continu- 
ance of  the  war,  withdrew,  February  15,  1781,  the  offensive 
ultimatum.  Moreover,  the  French  representatives  at  Phila- 
delphia, first  Gerard  and  afterward  Luzerne,  told  Congress 
repeatedly  that  the  United  States  had  no  valid  claim  to  the 
country  west  of  the  king's  line  of  1763.  One  object  of  the 
French  ministers  in  insisting  upon  this  boundary  was,  as  we 
shall  soon  see,  to  keep  the  United  States  out  of  the  way  of 
Spain  in  the  Western  country,  and  another  object  was  to  keep 
the  conditions  of  peace  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
within  narrow  limits. 

But  this  modification  of  Mr.  Jay's  instructions,  made  con- 
trary to  his  advice,  wholly  failed  to  accomplish  its  object. 
At  first  Count  Florida  Blanca,  the  Spanish  Prime  Minister, 
had  tacitly  consented  to  the  Mississippi  as  our  western  boun- 
dary ;  but,  now  that  the  other  obstacle  to  a  treaty  was  out  of 
the  way,  he  held  that  such  a  westward  extension  was  alto- 
gether inadmissible.  The  fact  is,  the  Clark  conquest  of  the 
Northwest,  the  spread  of  Western  settlements,  and  the  stay- 


THE  NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     173 

ing  power  that  the  States  were  showing  in  the  war,  were  re- 
vealing to  the  Spanish  Court  the  fact  that  an  Anglo-Ameri- 
can republic,  stretching  down  the  Atlantic  slope  from  Nova 
Scotia  to  Florida  and  spreading  over  the  Alleghanies  to  the 
great  lakes  and  the  great  river,  meant  a  future  menace  to 
His  Catholic  Majesty's  North  American  dominions ;  and  the 
annexation  of  Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  and  portions  of 
Mexico  to  the  United  States  show  how  well  grounded  these 
fears  were.  Spain  had  always  striven  to  exclude  all  rival 
powers  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  she  expected  to  regain 
Florida  and  the  practical  control  of  the  Gulf  at  the  peace ; 
and  to  allow  the  United  States  to  extend  westward  to  the 
river  and  southward  to  parallel  31°  seemed  little  less  than 
abandoning  her  dearest  American  interests.  At  that  time, 
too,  Spain  was  the  greatest  colonial  empire  of  the  world  ;  and 
it  was  no  more  the  business  of  her  king  to  offer  a  premium 
on  /colonial  revolutions  than  it  was  the  business  of  Francis  of 
Austria  to  foster  rebellion. 

In  the  third  place,  Galvez,  the  gallant  young  Governor  of 
Louisiana,  had  captured  and  was  holding  possession  of  the 
British  posts  on  the  Gulf  and  the  Mississippi :  Pensacola,  Mo- 
bile, Baton  Rouge,  and  Natchez.  These  conquests  had  daz- 
zled the  Spanish  imagination,  opening  up  new  possibilities  of 
territorial  expansion  in  the  vast  region  west  of  the  Appa- 
lachian Mountains,  including,  perhaps,  a  complete  retrieval 
of  the  great  blunder  of  one  hundred  years  before.  Now  that 
West  Florida  was  in  her  hands,  she  remembered  its  ancient 
extension  northward.  Her  ambition  growing  with  what  it 
fed  on,  Spain  now  conceived  the  thought  of  laying  claim  to 
the  whole  West,  as  far  as  the  lakes.  To  lay  the  foundation  for 
such  claim,  the  Spanish  commandant  at  St.  Louis,  in  the  dead 
of  the  winter  of  1780-81,  sent  an  expedition  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  Northwest,  to  seize  the  post  of  St.  Joseph,  established 
by  La  Salle  in  1679,  just  after  he  had  sent  back  the  Griffin 
from  Green  Bay.  This  expedition  was  completely  successful ; 
Don  Eugenio  Purre,  the  commander,  seized  the  post,  captur- 


174  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ing  the  garrison,  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  region 
commanded  by  it,  and  of  the  Illinois  River,  displaying  the 
Spanish  standard  in  token  of  conquest  and  carrying  off  the 
English  colors  as  a  Spanish  title-deed.  News  of  this  exploit 
reached  Philadelphia  by  way  of  Madrid  and  Paris  in  the 
Spring  of  1782,  accompanied  by  this  message  from  Mr.  Jay 
to  Mr.  Livingston :  "  When  you  consider  the  ostensible  ob- 
ject of  this  expedition,  the  distance  of  it,  the  formalities  with 
which  the  place,  the  country,  and  the  river  were  taken  posses- 
sion of  in  the  name  of  His  Catholic  Majesty,  I  am  persuaded 
it  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  swell  this  letter  with  re- 
marks that  would  occur  to  a  reader  of  far  less  penetration 
than  yourself."  '  Dr.  Franklin  also  saw  in  the  expedition  a 
purpose  to  "  coop  up  "  the  United  States  between  the  Alle- 
ghanies  and  the  sea,  and  he  demanded  that  Congress  should 
insist  upon  the  Mississippi  as  a  western  boundary,  and  upon 
its  free  navigation  from  its  source  to  the  ocean.  Nor  can 
there  be  any  doubt  that  the  Illinois  towns  would  have  been 
seized  and  held  by  the  Spaniards,  if  they  had  not  already 
passed  into  the  custody  of  the  Virginia  troops.  While  this 
Northwestern  expedition  did  not  occur  in  time  to  influence 
the  discussions  with  Mr.  Jay  at  Madrid,  it  is  still  a  material 
part  of  the  history  as  a  whole,  and  it  strikingly  illustrates  the 
Spanish  policy. 

Mr.  Jay  wholly  failed  to  accomplish  the  object  for  which 
he  was  sent  to  Madrid  ;  but  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
Spanish  purposes,  and  had  an  experience  of  Spanish  charac- 
ter, that  enabled  him  to  render  his  country  invaluable  service 
at  Paris  as  one  of  the  commissioners  who  negotiated  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain. 

As  Mr.  Jay  was  leaving  Madrid  for  Paris,  in  the  early 
summer  of  1782,  Count  Florida  Blanca  told  him  that  the 
Count  de  Aranda,  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  the  French 
Court,  was  authorized  to  continue  the  discussion  of  a  treaty 

1  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  VIII.,  78. 


THE  NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM  ENGLAND.     1/5 

between  Spain  and  the  United  States.  In  due  time,  Jay  put 
himself  in  communication  with  the  Count ;  but  as  the  Span- 
iard would  never  show  his  full  powers,  and  the  American 
would  not  treat  without  seeing  them,  their  frequent  confer- 
ences were  all  informal  and  non-official.  However,  in  these 
conferences  the  Spanish  diplomatist  fully  disclosed  the  ideas 
of  his  government  touching  the  Western  country. 

Having  drawn  from  Mr.  Jay  the  statement  that  the 
United  States  claimed  on  the  south  to  the  proclamation  line 
of  1763,  and  on  the  west  to  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi,  the 
Count  replied  :  That  the  Western  country  had  never  be- 
longed to  the  ancient  English  colonies,  or  been  claimed  by 
them  ;  that,  previous  to  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the  West  had  be- 
longed to  France,  and  that  it  continued,  after  that  treaty,  a 
distinct  part  of  the  British  dominions ;  that,  in  consequence 
of  Spanish  conquests  in  West  Florida  and  on  the  Mississippi 
and  Illinois  Rivers,  the  title  had  become  vested  in  Spain  ; 
and  that,  supposing  the  Spanish  right  did  not  cover  all  the 
country,  it  was  possessed  by  nations  of  Indians,  free  and  in- 
dependent, whom  the  States  had  no  right  to  disturb.  He 
therefore  proposed  a  longitudinal  line  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  as  a  boundary  between  Spain  and  the  United  States, 
adding  that  he  did  not  mean  to  dispute  about  a  few  acres  or 
miles.  What  De  Aranda's  "  longitudinal  line  "  was  he  after- 
ward made  plain,  by  drawing  a  red  line  on  a  copy  of  Mitchell's 
map  "  from  a  lake  near  the  confines  of  Georgia,  but  east  of 
the  Flint  River,  to  the  confluence  of  the  Kanawha  with  the 
Ohio;  thence  round  the  western  shores  of -Lake  Erie  and 
Huron;  and  thence  round  Lake  Michigan  to  Lake  Supe- 
rior." '  West  and  south  of  this  line  Spain  should  hold ; 
east,  the  United  States ;  while  north  of  the  lakes  the  United 
States  might  make  such  terms  with  Great  Britain  as  she 
could.  Here  we  may  drop  the  so-called  negotiation  with 
Spain,  with  the  remark  that  until  the  year  1795  the  Missis- 

1  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  VIII.,  150-152. 


176  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

sippi  River  remained  an  insuperable  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
an  American  treaty  with  that  power. 

The  Spanish  claim  to  the  West  was  dangerous  mainly  be- 
cause, in  a  modified  form,  it  was  supported  by  France.  When 
Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Jay  pointed  out  to  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes,  the  French  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  the  extrav- 
agance of  De  Aranda's  claim,  the  Count  was  "  very  cautious 
and  reserved ; "  but  M.  Rayneval,  his  principal  secretary, 
who  was  present,  was  talkative,  and  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  Americans  claimed  more  than  they  had  a  right  to. 
Soon  after,  Rayneval  suggested  to  Mr.  Jay  a  "  conciliatory 
line ;  "  and  in  a  memoir  dated  September  6th  he  explained  at 
length  what  he  meant  by  it.  In  this  paper  the  secretary 
stated  the  conflicting  United  States  and  Spanish  claims,  and 
then  urged  that  the  one  had  no  support  in  colonial  history, 
and  that  the  other  was  not  justified  by  the  Spanish  conquests. 
His  conciliatory  line  he  drew  from  a  point  on  the  Gulf  mid- 
way between  the  Chattahoochee  and  the  Mobile,  nearly  due 
north  to  the  Cumberland  River,  and  then  down  the  Cumber- 
land to  the  Ohio.  The  savages  west  of  this  limit  should  be 
free,  under  the  protection  of  Spain  ;  those  east  should  be  free, 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States.  Spain  would  lose 
almost  the  whole  course  of  the  Ohio ;  America  would  retain 
her  settlements  on  that  river,  and  have  a  large  space  in  which 
to  plant  new  ones.  Spain  had  no  claim  to  the  lands  north  of 
the  Ohio ;  "  their  fate  must  be  regulated  with  the  Court  of 
London."  The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  would  be  con- 
trolled by  the  power  owning  its  banks.1 

Mr.  Jay  very  naturally  concluded  that  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes  was  the  real  author  of  this  scheme.  He  concluded, 
also,  that  in  case  the  American  Commissioners  would  not 
consent  to  it,  then  France  would  aid  Spain  in  a  negotiation 
to  divide  the  West  with  England.  It  is  now  well  known  that 
such  was,  in  substance,  the  programme  of  the  two  counts. 

1  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  VIII. ,  156  et  seq. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     1 77 

As  a  first  step  toward  carrying  it  out,  M.  Rayneval  was  sent 
on  a  secret  mission  to  England,  where  he  informed  Lord 
Shelburne  that  his  chief  would  not  support  the  Americans 
in  several  of  their  claims,  as  the  fisheries  and  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  destiny  of  the  West  had  thus  become  a  European 
question  involving  the  three  powers,  all  of  which  had  inter- 
ests of  their  own  to  look  after  in  both  worlds.     England 
would  naturally  make  the  best  terms  that  she  could  with  her 
enemies,  one  and  all ;  more  specifically,   she   would   obtain 
whatever  advantage  she  could  in  the  negotiations  with  the 
Americans  from  the  jealousies  of  the  two  other  powers.    Spain 
was  resolved  on  the  recovery  of  Gibraltar  as  well  as  of  Florida, 
and  France  was  committed  to  her  support.     France  had  not 
entered  into  alliance  with  America  from  love  of  the  American 
cause,   but  from  hatred  of   England  ;  and  now  that  a  rival 
power  to  England  had  been  raised  up  on  the  shores  of  the 
New  World,  Vergennes  was^^fcehensive  that  power  would 
become  so  strong  m  t"^P"1~"h"11"  independent  of  France. 
He  was,  indeed,  committed  irrevocably  to  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  so  far  as  England  was  concerned ;  but 
he  was  also  determined  that  their  independence  should  not 
be  finally  settled  until  a  general  peace  had  been  arrived  at. 
Possibly  the  country  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains  could 
be  traded  off  for  Gibraltar,  or  be  balanced  against  some  other 
make-weight  in  the  diplomatic   scale.     Fortunately,  for  his 
purpose,  the  treaty  of   1778  bound  the  United  States  not  to 
conclude  a  peace  with    England    until    France   should   also 
conclude  one;  and,  as  early  as  June,   1781,  he  had  induced 
Congress  to  instruct  the  commissioners  who  were  to  negoti- 
ate with  England  "  to  make  the  most  candid  and  confidential 
communications  upon  all  subjects  to   the  ministers  of   our 
generous  ally  the  King  of  France ;  to  undertake  nothing  in 
the  negotiations  for  peace  or  truce  without  their  knowledge 
and  concurrence,  and  to  make  them  sensible  how  much  we  rely 
upon  His  Majesty's  influence  for  effectual  support  in  every- 


i;8  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

thing  that  may  be  necessary  to  the  present  security  or  future 
prosperity  of  the  United  States." 1 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  diplomatic  situation  in  Paris  when 
the  American  negotiation  entered  on  its  second  stage.  In 
this  tremendous  game  of  politics,  the  fate  of  the  West  seemed 
to  hang  on  issues  wholly  beyond  the  control  of  the  American 
Commissioners.  No  more  critical  or  anxious  moment  can  be 
found  in  the  whole  history  of  our  diplomacy.  Determined,  if 
possible,  to  keep  their  country  from  becoming  the  football  of 
the  three  powers,  the  commissioners  resolved,  in  disregard  of 
their  instructions/  to  propose  to  the  British  Cabinet  a  nego- 
tiation to  be  conducted  without  the  knowledge  of  the  French 
ministers.  Lord  Shelburne,  now  Prime  Minister,  for  reasons 
of  state  that  are  here  immaterial,  promptly  accepted  this  over- 
ture, and  the  negotiation  took  a  new  departure. 

Owing  to  important  successes  of  the  British  arms  in  the 
West  Indies  and  at  Gibraltar,  and  to  the  discovery  of  a  want 
of  good  understanding  between  America  and  France,  the 
British  ministers  now  held  a  firmer  tone  than  in  the  first 
negotiation.  The  determination  of  the  ministers  to  obtain  a 
compensation  for  the  British  refugees  whose  property  had  been 
confiscated  by  the  States  became  the  occasion  for  reopening 
the  question  of  boundaries  in  the  Northeast,  the  West,  and 
the  Northwest.  Mr.  Strachey  was  sent  over  the  Channel  to 
assist  Mr.  Oswald  in  retreating  from  some  of  his  concessions ; 
and  Lord  Fitzmaurice  tells  us  that  his  instructions  were  : 

"  To  urge  the  claims  of  England,  under  the  proclamation  of 
1763,  to  the  lands  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Western 
boundary  of  the  States,  and  to  bring  forward  the  French  boun- 

1  The  Secret  Journals,  II.,  435. 

9  Mr.  Lyman,  Diplomacy  of  the  United  States,  I.,  121,  note,  relates  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote,  which  he  says  he  has  from  a  direct  source.  Dr.  Franklin,  one 
day  sitting,  during  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  instructions, -in  Mr.  Jay's 
room  at  Paris,  said  to  that  gentleman,  "  Will  you  break  your  instructions  ? " 
"Yes,"  replied  Mr.  Jay,  who  was  smoking  a  pipe,  "  as  I  break  this  pipe  ;"  and 
immediately  threw  it  into  the  fire. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     179 

dary  of  Canada,  which  was  more  extensive  at  some  points  than 
that  of  the  proclamation  of  1763.  He  was  to  urge  these  claims, 
and  the  right  of  the  King  to  the  ungranted  domain,  not  indeed 
for  their  own  sake,  but  in  order  to  gain  some  compensation  for 
the  refugees,  either  by  a  direct  cession  of  territory  in  their 
favor,  or  by  engaging  the  half,  or  some  proportion  of  what  the 
back  lands  might  produce  when  sold,  or  a  sum  mortgaged  on 
those  lands  ;  or  by  the  grant  of  a  favorable  boundary  of  Nova 
Scotia,  extending,  if  possible,  so  as  to  include  the  province  of 
Maine  ;  or,  if  that  could  not  be  obtained,  the  province  of  Saga- 
dahock,  or,  at  the  very  least,  Penobscot."' 

Lord  Shelburne  urged  the  same  view,  in  a  strong  despatch 
to  Oswald. 

"  As  a  resource  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  refugees  the 
matter  of  the  boundaries  and  back  lands  presents  itself.  Inde- 
pendent of  all  the  nonsense  of  charters,  I  mean,  when  they  talk 
of  extending  as  far  as  the  sun  sets,  the  soil  is,  and  has  always 
been  acknowledged  to  be  the  King's.  For  the  good  of  America, 
whatever  the  government  may  be,  new  provinces  must  be 
erected  on  those  back  lands  and  down  the  Mississippi  ;  and 
supposing  them  to  be  sold,  what  can  be  so  reasonable  as  that 
part  of  the  province,  where  the  King's  property  alone  is  in  ques- 
tion, should  be  applied  to  furnish  subsistence  to  those,  whom 
for  the  sake  of  peace  he  can  never  consistently  with  his  honor 
entirely  abandon."2 

This  was  a  very  different  view  from  the  one  that  Oswald 
had  held  when  he  declined  "  any  attempt  at  asserting  the 
claims  of  the  English  Crown  over  the  ungranted  domains, 
deeming  that  no  real  distinction  could  be  drawn  between 
them  and  other  sovereign  rights  which  were  necessarily  to  be 
ceded." 

It  is  impossible  to  say  much  about  the  Western  boundary 
discussions,  because  we  know  next  to  nothing  about  them. 

1  Life  of  Earl  Shelburne,  III.,  281,  282.  2  Ibid.,  III.,  284. 


180  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Other  controversies  at  Paris,  far  less  important,  were  re- 
ported much  more  fully ;  but  here  the  information  that  we 
possess  only  piques  our  curiosity.  The  right  to  fish  on  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland  was  thought  more  valuable  in  1782 
than  the  ownership  of  the  valleys  of  Ohio,  the  prairies  of 
Illinois,  and  the  forests  of  Michigan.  What  would  we  not 
give  for  a  full  review  of  the  whole  subject  from  the  pen  that 
wrote  the  "Canada  Pamphlet," and  the  "Reply  to  Hillsbor- 
ough  ?  " 

The  Mississippi  was  finally  conceded  by  the  British  Cabi- 
net. Still,  this  concession  left  unanswered  the  question 
where  the  northern  boundary  should  strike  the  Mississippi. 
Writing  to  Minister  Townsend,  November  8th,  Mr.  Strachey 
says  :  "  1  despatch  the  boundary  line  originally  sent  to  you  by 
Mr.  Oswald,  and  two  other  lines  proposed  by  the  American 
Commissioners  after  my  arrival  at  Paris.  Either  of  these  you 
are  to  choose.  They  are  both  better  than  the  original  line,  as 
well  in  respect  to  Canada  as  to  Nova  Scotia."  '  Mr.  Adams 
tells  us  that  one  of  these  lines  was  the  forty-fifth  parallel, 
northwest  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  other  the  line  of  the 
middle  of  the  lakes.  Most  fortunately  for  us,  the  British 
ministers,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  their  desire  to  give  Canada 
frontage  on  the  four  lakes,  and  to  a  preference  for  a  water 
boundary,  chose  that  line  which  left  the  Northwest  intact. 
Had  the  forty-fifth  parallel  become  the  boundary,  nearly  one- 
half  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  and  of  the  States  of 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  part  of  Minnesota,  would  have 
fallen  to  Great  Britain.  Writing  to  Robert  R.  Livingston, 
the  American  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  the  commission- 
ers say :  "  Congress  will  observe,  that  although  our  northern 
line  is  in  a  certain  part  below  the  latitude  of  forty-five,  yet  in 
others  it  extends  above  it,  divides  the  Lake  Superior,  and 
gives  us  access  to  its  western  and  southern  waters,  from  which 
aline  in  that  latitude  would  have  excluded  us."  a  If  the  com- 

1  Fitzmaurice  :  Life  of  Earl  Shelburne,  III.,  295. 
*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  X.,  118. 


Qw  O   fp  2'S.'t/i  «*"*.-•  tflt/S'ee^ 
4>  en  oo  a-.—  $  o        fi  **       §  S»fe*S 
-S  °J  M  3"^  uS.E;  rt  tf)  5^  o  rt*'^ 
J  ^          J  J      UO^ 


THE  NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     l8l 

missioners  had  understood  Northwestern  geography  better,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  then  unknown  resources  of  Lake  Superior, 
they  would  have  stated  the  argument  with  even  greater 
strength. 

To  close  the  war  that  began  on  Lexington  Green,  April 
19,  1775,  three  separate  treaties  were  necessary.  France  and 
the  United  States  conducted  simultaneous  negotiations  with 
different  English  commissioners,  the  understanding  being  that 
the  preliminaries  should  be  signed  the  same  day.  On  Novem- 
ber 29th  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  to  M.  de  Vergennes  that  the 
American  articles  were  already  agreed  upon,  and  that  he 
hoped  to  lay  a  copy  of  them  before  his  Excellency  the  next 
day.  Except  a  single  secret  article,  they  were  duly  communi- 
cated ;  but,  to  the  astonishment  and  mortification  of  the  Count, 
they  were  already  signed,  and  therefore  binding,  as  far  as  the 
commissioners  could  make  them  so.  The  game  for  despoiling 
the  young  Republic  of  one-half  her  territorial  heritage  was 
effectually  blocked.  Vergennes  bitterly  reproached  Franklin 
for  the  course  that  he  and  his  associates  had  followed,  and 
Franklin  replied,  making  such  defence  as  he  could,  admitting 
no  more  than  that  a  point  of  bienstance  had  been  neglected. 
The  American  Congress  and  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  at 
first  were  also  disposed  to  blame  the  commissioners ;  but  so 
anxious  was  the  country  for  peace  and  so  much  more  favora- 
ble were  the  terms  obtained  than  had  been  expected,  that 
murmurs  of  dissatisfaction  soon  gave  place  to  acclaims  of 
gratification  and  delight.  The  preamble  to  the  treaty  con- 
tained the  saving  clause  that  it  should  not  go  into  effect  un- 
til France  and  England  came  to  an  understanding,  a  fact  that 
the  astute  Franklin  did  not  fail  to  press  upon  the  attention  of 
the  irate  Vergennes.  However,  that  condition  was  soon  ful- 
filled, and  a  general  peace  assured. 

The  definitive  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  which  is  merely  the  preliminary  treaty  over 
again,  with  the  exception  of  the  secret  article  to  be  noticed  in 
the  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  was  signed  September  3, 


1 82  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

1783.  His  Britannic  Majesty  acknowledged  the  United  States 
to  be  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  States,  and  relinquished 
for  himself,  his  heirs,  and  successors  "  all  claim  to  the  govern- 
ment, propriety,  and  territorial  right  of  the  same  and  every 
part  thereof ; "  assigning  them  boundaries  that  have  proved 
to  be  more  satisfactory  than  those  proposed  by  Congress  in 
1779  could  have  been.  It  was  a  treaty  of  partition  of  the 
British  Empire,  and  of  the  English-speaking  world.  At  the 
time,  British  statesmen  generally  dreaded  its  effect  on  the 
Mother  Country,  but  time  has  proved  it  a  godsend  to  her  as 
well  as  to  America. 

The  happy  issue  of  this  negotiation  was  very  largely  due 
to  William,  Earl  of  Shelburne,  afterward  first  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne.  Both  as  Secretary  for  the  Colonies  in  the  Rock- 
ingham  Cabinet,  and  as  Prime  Minister,  he  was  governed  by 
the  sentiment  that  he  thus  expressed  :  "  Reconciliation  with 
America  on  the  noblest  terms  by  the  noblest  means."  Had 
the  negotiation  remained  open  at  the  downfall  of  his  ministry, 
which  was  largely  the  result  of  the  liberal  terms  that  he  gave 
the  Americans,  and  so  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Fox-North 
coalition,  no  one  can  tell  what  the  fate  of  the  West  would 
have  been. 

It  is  impossible  nicely  to  divide  among  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr. 
Adams,  and  Mr.  Jay,  the  honor  of  saving  the  West  to  their 
country.  On  that  issue,  Mr.  Adams  was  unquestionably 
firm.  A  tradition  has  floated  down  the  stream  of  diplomacy 
to  the  effect  that  Dr.  Franklin  was  indifferent,  or  at  least  dis- 
posed to  yield ;  but  we  have  Mr.  Jay's  express  testimony  to 
the  contrary,1  to  say  nothing  of  the  improbability  of  the  Doc- 
tor's taking  such  a  course,  in  view  of  his  Western  record  as 
set  forth  in  a  previous  chapter.  However,  the  man  who  goes 
through  the  original  documents,  including  the  discussions  at 
Madrid  as  well  as  those  at  Paris,  will  be  pretty  certain  to  con- 
clude that  the  old  Northwest  has  greater  reason  for  gratitude 
to  John  Jay  than  to  either  of  his  colleagues. 

1  Sparks :  Works  of  Franklin,  X.,  8. 


THE  NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     183 

It  is  not  easy  to  tell  what  were  the  decisive  arguments  in 
this  Western  controversy.     It  is  often  said,  and  particularly  by 
Western  writers,  that  the  issue  turned  mainly  on  the  George 
Rogers  Clark  conquest.     This  view  rests  on  tradition  rather 
than  on  historical  evidence,  and  I  venture  the  opinion  that  it 
is  largely  erroneous.     No  man,  at  least,  can  read  the  reports  on 
the  national  boundaries  submitted  to  Congress  without  seeing 
that  far  more  reliance  was  laid,  by  the  committees  that  pre- 
pared them,  on  the  colonial  charters  than  on  Clark's  great 
achievement.     The  report  of  August  16,  1782,  urges  the  argu- 
ment :  "  The  very  country  in  question  ha!h  been  conquered 
through  the  means  of  the   common   labors  of  the   United 
States ;  "  "  for  a  considerable  distance  beyond  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  and  particularly  on  the  Ohio,  American  citizens 
are  actually  settled  at  this  day  " — "  fencible  men,"  not "  behind 
any  of  their  fellow-citizens  in  the  struggle  for  liberty,"  who 
will  be  thrown  back  within  the  power  of  Great  Britain  if  the 
Western  territory  is  surrendered  to  her  ;  but  the  same  report 
contains  page  after  page  of  arguments  based  on  the  charters 
and  on  colonial  history.     It  was  indeed  most  fortunate  that 
the  Virginia  troops  were  in  possession  of  the  Illinois  and  the 
Wabash  at  the  close  of  the  war,  but  there  is  no  reason  to 
think  that  the  Clark  conquest,  separate  and  apart  from  the 
colonial  titles,  ever  would  have  given  the  United  States  the 
Great  West.     Writing  to  Secretary  Livingston,  the  American 
Commissioners  give  color  to  the  idea  that  the  decision  turned 
on  the  charters  and  not  on  the  conquest.    They  say  the  Court 
of  Great  Britain  "  claimed  not  only  all  the  lands  in  the  West- 
ern  country   and   on   the   Mississippi,  which  were   not   ex- 
pressly included  in  our  charters  and  governments,  but  also 
all  such  lands  within  them  as  remained  ungranted  by  the 
King  of  Great  Britain."     "  It  would  be  endless,"  they  add, 
"  to  enumerate  all  the  discussions  and  arguments  on  the  sub- 
ject." '     It  is  highly  probable  that  the  British  ministry,  see- 

1  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  X.,  117. 


1 84  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

ing  that  the  West  would  go  to  Spain  if  not  to  the  United 
States,  preferred  to  give  it  the  latter  direction.  Moreover,  the 
Clark  conquest  was  much  more  potent  in  keeping  the  West 
from  falling  into  the  hands  of  Spain  than  in  wresting  it  from 
the  hands  of  England. 

The  refusal  of  England  to  surrender  so  much  of  the 
Northwest  as  remained  in  her  hands  at  the  close  of  the  war 
is  a  very  striking  proof  of  the  reluctance  with  which  she 
consented  to  the  Northwestern  boundaries.  In  July,  1783, 
Washington  sent  Baron  Steuben  to  General  Haldiman,  Brit- 
ish commander  in  Canada,  with  a  commission  to  receive  pos- 
session of  Oswego,  Niagara,  Detroit,  Mackinaw,  and  the 
minor  posts ;  but  Haldiman  made  reply  that  he  had  not  re- 
ceived instructions  for  their  surrender,  and  that  he  could  not 
even  discuss  the  subject  with  him.  At  the  time  there  was  no 
reason  for  retaining  the  posts  consistent  with  national  good 
faith ;  afterward  the  British  Government  alleged  as  a  reason 
the  non-fulfilment  by  this  country  of  certain  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  of  peace.  For  thirteen  years  the  Northwestern  posts 
were  sharp  thorns  in  the  sides  of  the  United  States.  The  Rev- 
olution was  followed  by  a  harassing  Indian  war  that,  in  reality, 
never  ceased  until  Wayne's  victory  of  the  Fallen  Timbers,  in 
1794 ;  and  from  its  first  day  to  its  last  the  savages  found  al- 
ways sympathy,  and  often  active  support,  at  the  British  gar- 
risons. British  officers,  audaciously  invading  territory  which 
they  did  not  hold  at  the  end  of  the  war,  built  Fort  Miami 
at  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee,  where  Perrysburg,  O.,  now 
stands.  General  Wayne  pursued  the  Indians  under  the  very 
muzzles  of  the  cannon  of  this  fortification,  and  laid  waste  the 
surrounding  country  to  its  gates.  The  Indian  war  and  the 
British  occupation,  that  had  been  so  closely  connected,  virtu- 
ally ceased  at  the  same  time.  In  1795,  Wayne  negotiated 
with  the  Indians  the  Treaty  of  Greenville,  and,  the  year  be- 
fore, Jay  negotiated  with  the  British  Government  the  treaty 
that  bears  his  name,  by  which  England  bound  herself  to 
yield  possession  of  the  posts  that  she  should  have  yielded  in 


THE  NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     185 

1783.  On  July  11,  1796,  a  detachment  from  Wayne's  army 
raised  the  stars  and  stripes  above  the  stockade  and  village  of 
Detroit,  where  the  French  and  British  colors  had  successively 
waved,  and  this  act  completed  the  tardy  transfer  of  the  old 
Northwest  to  the  United  States.  No  doubt  England  had 
some  reason  to  complain  of  the  United  States  for  the  imper- 
fect fulfilment  of  the  treaty  of  1783  ;  but  her  retention  of  the 
posts,  so  calamitous  in  results  to  the  growing  Western  settle- 
ments, was  largely  due  to  a  lingering  hope  that  the  young  re- 
public would  prove  a  failure,  and  to  a  determination  to  share 
the  expected  spoil.  The  fact  is,  neither  England  nor  Spain 
regarded  the  Treaty  of  Paris  as  finally  settling  the  destiny  of 
the  country  west  of  the  mountains. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  War  of  1812,  for  a  time, 
revived  English  hopes  of  again  recovering  the  Northwest. 
Tecumseh  strove  to  erect  his  "  dam  "  to  resist  "  the  mighty 
water  ready  to  overflow  his  people."  Hull's  surrender  placed 
all  Michigan  in  British  hands.  General  Proctor  sought  to 
compel  the  citizens  of  Detroit  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  King  of  England ;  and  although  Harrison's  successes 
on  the  Maumee  and  Perry's  victory  on  Lake  Erie  forced  Proc- 
tor to  evacuate  Detroit,  a  British  garrison  continued  to  hold 
Mackinaw  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Only  three  of  the  thirty- 
two  years  lying  between  1783  and  1815  were  years  of  war; 
but  for  one-half  of  the  whole  time  the  British  flag  was  flying 
on  the  American  side  of  the  boundary-line.  In  the  largest 
sense,  therefore,  the  destiny  of  the  Northwest  was  not  assured 
until  the  Treaty  of  Ghent. 

The  Iroquois  called  themselves  the  owners  of  the  lands 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  ;  the  Indians  living  on  those  lands  they 
considered  simply  as  occupants  or  tenants.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  tenants  valued  them  much  more  highly  than  the  owners. 
The  long  wars  that  the  Western  Indians  waged  for  Ohio  tell 
the  story  of  their  affection  for  their  homes.  The  same  wars 
also  tell  at  what  fearful  cost  the  American  frontier  was  ex- 
tended west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  From  the  defeat 


1 86  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

of  Braddock,  in  1755,  onward  to  Wayne's  Treaty,  in  1795, 
with  a  few  short  intermissions,  that  frontier  was  undergoing  a 
constant  baptism  of  fire  and  blood. 

The  original  United  States  were  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Great  Britain,  on  the  west  and  south  by  Spain,  and  on  the 
east  by  the  Ocean — the  last  named  being  the  only  neighbor 
with  whom  we  never  had  any  trouble.  One  of  the  most 
striking  evidences  of  the  value  of  this  domain,  and  of  its  ad- 
mirable position,  is  the  remarkable  growth  of  the  United 
States.  An  area  of  eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand square  miles  has  become  an  area  of  three  million  six 
hundred  thousand.  Parallel  thirty-one  degrees  north  and 
the  Mississippi  have  given  place,  as  boundaries,  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Our 
marvellous  territorial  expansion  and  material  development 
westward  discourage  prophecy ;  but,  at  this  time,  it  does 
not  seem  probable  that  the  territory  wrested  from  England 
will  soon,  if  ever,  cease  to  be  the  most  valuable  part  of  our 
whole  national  domain,  described  by  Mr.  Gladstone  as  "  a 
natural  base  for  the  greatest  continuous  empire  ever  estab- 
lished by  man." 

The  man  curious  about  "  what  might  have  been  "  cannot 
help  speculating  on  the  course  of  history  provided  any  one  of 
the  limitation-schemes  proposed  at  Paris  had  prevailed.  As 
he  reflects  on  the  facts  of  geography,  on  the  strength  and  au- 
dacity of  'American  civilization,  on  the  weakness  of  Spanish 
America  and  of  Spain  herself,  and  on  the  feeble  Canadian 
settlements  in  1783,  he  may  conclude  that  the  eastern  half  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Atlantic  Plain  would  have 
been  reunited  even  if  once  separated  ;  that  the  idea  of  separa- 
tion, supported  in  some  form  by  the  three  powers,  was  against 
Nature ;  that  Spain,  in  particular,  lost  her  only  opportunity 
to  control  the  Father  of  Waters  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  and  that  the  great  valley  of  the  West  was 
the  predestined  field  of  Anglo-Saxon  institutions  and  life. 
There  is  undeniable  force  in  this  reasoning ;  perhaps  it  is  al- 


THE   NORTHWEST  WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     187 

together  conclusive.  At  the  same  time,  the  proposed  limita- 
tion might  have  turned  American  events  into  wholly  differ- 
ent channels.  What  if  the  Confederacy  had  fallen  to  pieces  ? 
What  if  the  Constitution  of  1787  had  never  been  framed  or 
ratified  ?  What  if  the  United  States  had  become  dependent 
upon  one  of  the  European  powers  ?  In  any  one  of  these 
events,  the  world  would  never  have  seen  that  magnificent 
growth  which  has  absorbed  territories  four  times  as  great  as 
that  bounded  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  which  furnishes  the 
main  argument  for  the  conclusion,  "  It  would  have  made  lit- 
tle difference."  The  longer  one  considers  the  subject,  the  less 
will  he  be  disposed  to  think  that  the  delivery  of  the  West  by 
the  trustee  appointed  in  1763  was  a  foregone  conclusion ;  the 
more  will  he  think  the  retention  of  the  Northwest  by  Great 
Britain  would  have  been  a  much  more  serious  mischance  than 
the  gaining  of  the  Southwest  by  Spain ;  and  the  more  reason 
will  he  discover  for  congratulation  that  the  logic  of  events 
gave  us  our  proper  boundaries  at  the  close  of  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  did  not  leave  us  to  succumb  to  untoward  fate 
or  to  renew  the  struggle  with  two  European  powers  instead 
of  one  in  after  years. 

NOTE. — Article  2  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  reads  thus  :  "And 
that  all  disputes  which  might  arise  in  future  on  the  subject  of 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  may  be  prevented,  it  is  here- 
by agreed  and  declared  that  the  following  are  and  shall  be  their 
boundaries,  namely  :  From  the  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia, 
namely,  that  angle  which  is  formed  by  a  line  drawn  due  north 
from  the  source  of  St.  Croix  River  to  the  Highlands ;  along  the 
said  Highlands,  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves 
into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  northwesternmost  head  of  Connecticut 
River  ;  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river  to  the  forty- 
fifth  degree  of  north  latitude  ;  from  thence,  by  a  line  due  west 
on  the  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the  River  Iroquois  or  Cata- 
raquy  [that  is,  the  St.  Lawrence]  ;  thence  along  the  middle  of 
said  river  into  Lake  Ontario,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake 


1 88  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

until  It  strikes  the  communication  by  water  between  that  lake 
and  Lake  Erie  ;  thence  along  the  middle  of  said  communica- 
tion into  Lake  Erie,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake  until  it  ar- 
rives at  the  water  communication  between  that  lake  and  Lake 
Huron  ;  thence  along  the  middle  of  said  water  communication 
into  the  Lake  Huron ;  thence  through  the  middle  of  said  lake 
to  the  water  communication  between  that  lake  and  Lake  Su- 
perior ;  thence  through  Lake  Superior  northward  of  the  isles 
Royal  and  Philipeaux  to  the  Long  Lake  ;  thence  through  the 
middle  of  said  Long  Lake  and  the  water  communication  be- 
tween it  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  said  Lake  of  the 
Woods  ;  thence  through  the  said  lake  to  the  most  northwestern 
point  thereof,  and  from  thence  on  a  due  west  course  to  the 
River  Mississippi  ;  thence  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  mid- 
dle of  the  said  River  Mississippi  until  it  shall  intersect  the 
northernmost  part  of  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude. 
South,  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  determination 
of  the  line  last  mentioned,  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-one  degrees 
north  of  the  equator,  to  the  middle  of  the  River  Appalachicola 
or  Catahouche  ;  thence  along  the  middle  thereof  to  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Flint  River  ;  thence  straight  to  the  head  of  St. 
Mary's  River,  and  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  St.  Mary's 
River  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  East,  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along 
the  middle  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  from  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  to  its  source,  and  from  its  source  directly  north  to  the 
aforesaid  Highlands,  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Law- 
rence ;  comprehending  all  islands  within  twenty  leagues  of  any 
part  of  the  shores  of  the  United  States,  and  lying  between  lines 
to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  points  where  the  aforesaid  boun- 
daries between  Nova  Scotia,  on  the  one  part,  and  East  Florida, 
on  the  other,  shall  respectively  touch  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  excepting  such  islands  as  now  are  or  here- 
tofore have  been  within  the  limits  of  the  said  province  of  Nova 
Scotia." 

The  fullest  report  of  the  discussion  of  the  Western  question, 
at  Paris,  found  in  any  contemporary  State  paper,is  in  the  letter 
that  the  Commissioners  wrote  to  Mr.  Livingston,  July  18,  1783, 


THE  NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     189 

in  reply  to  his  censure  "  for  signing  the  treaty  without  commu- 
nicating it  to  the  Court  of  Versailles  till  after  the  signature,  and 
in  concealing  the  separate  article  from  it  even  when  signed." 
The  preceding  narrative  is  sufficiently  full  touching  the  rea- 
sons for  secrecy,  but  a  few  remarks  may  properly  be  added 
concerning  the  secret  article,  which  was  in  these  words  :  "  It  is 
hereby  understood  and  agreed  that  in  case  Great  Britain,  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  present  war,  shall  recover  or  be  put  in 
possession  of  West  Florida,  the  line  of  north  boundary  be- 
tween the  said  province  and  the  United  States  shall  be  a  line 
drawn  from  the  mouth  of  the  River  Yazoo  where  it  unites  with 
the  Mississippi  due  east  to  the  River  Appalachicola."  This 
line  was  the  northern  boundary  of  West  Florida  as  established 
in  1764.  At  the  time  of  the  negotiation  this  province  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  Spanish  troops,  and  it  was  a  question  what 
disposition  would  be  made  of  it  at  the  general  peace.  The 
Commissioners  show  very  plainly  that  this  question  materially 
affected  the  whole  Western  negotiation.  Mr.  Oswald,  wishing 
to  cover  as  much  of  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mississippi  with 
British  claims  as  possible,  had  much  to  say  of  "the  ancient 
boundaries  "  of  Canada  and  Louisiana  ;  and  the  British  Court, 
expecting  to  regain  the  Floridas,  "  seemed  desirous  of  annexing 
as  much  territory  to  them  as  possible,  even  up  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio." 

Oswald  avowed  the  desire  to  render  the  British  countries 
on  the  gulf  large  enough  "  to  be  worth  keeping  and  protect- 
ing," and  also  to  gain  a  convenient  retreat  for  the  Tories; 
but  he  finally  consented  to  yield  to  the  United  States  the 
country  north  of  the  Yazoo  line,  if  the  Commissioners  would 
yield  to  England  south  of  that  line.  Hence  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  secret  article  was  a  bargain  between  the  parties.  At 
the  same  time  the  Commissioners  say  :  "  We  were  of  opin- 
ion that  the  country  in  conquest  was  of  great  value,  both  on 
account  of  its  natural  fertility  and  of  its  position,  it  being,  in 
our  opinion,  the  interest  of  America  to  extend  as  far  down 
toward  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  as  we  possibly  could."  l 

1  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  X.,  187  et  seq. 


190  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

This  boundary-description  flows  smooth,  but  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  same  number  of  words  in  a  treaty  ever  concealed  more 
seeds  of  controversy.  To  draw  boundary-lines  on  paper  is 
one  thing  ;  to  go  upon  the  ground  where  they  are  supposed 
to  fall,  with  instruments  to  run  and  mark  them,  is  quite  an- 
other, as  the  high  contracting  parties  in  this  case  found  to  their 
cost  the  moment  an  attempt  was  made  to  transfer  the  treaty- 
lines  to  the  surface  of  the  earth.  No  doubt  the  diplomatists  at 
Paris  used  the  language  in  good  faith  ;  but  their  lines  had  to 
be  drawn,  not  only  on  paper,  but  also  through  vast  wildernesses 
uninhabited  and  unexplored,  and  some  of  the  lines,  naturally, 
were  found  impracticable.  In  part,  however,  the  disputes  that 
arose  had  other  sources  than  ignorance  of  geography.  Serious 
doubts  having  arisen  as  to  the  practicability  of  reaching  the 
Mississippi  by  'a  due  west  line  from  the  northwesternmost  point 
of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  Jay's  Treaty  provided  that  measures 
should  be  taken  in  concert  to  survey  the  Upper  Mississippi,  and 
that,  in  case  the  due-west  line  was  found  impracticable,  the 
"  two  powers  would  thereupon  proceed  by  amicable  negotia- 
tion to  regulate  the  boundary  in  that  quarter,"  etc.  I  have 
found  no  trace  of  such  a  survey  being  made,  and  the  boundary 
was  not  fixed  for  more  than  twenty  years  thereafter.1 

A  convention  was  signed,  May  12,  1803,  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  two  powers,  which  contained  arrangements  for  de- 
termining the  boundary  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi. But  at  the  same  time  that  Rufus  King  was  negotiating 
this  treaty  in  London  with  Lord  Hawkesbury,  Messrs.  Living- 
ston and  Monroe  were  negotiating  a  much  more  familiar  one 
in  Paris  with  the  ministers  of  the  First  Consul.  This  was  the 
treaty  for  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  signed 
April  30,  1803.  When  the  London  treaty  came  before  the  Sen- 
ate, the  argument  was  made  that  the  Louisiana  cession  would 
affect  the  line  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Mississippi 
River ;  the  Senate  accordingly  struck  out  the  article,  which  the 

1  The  best  maps  of  the  period  put  down  the  course  of  the  river  above  the 
forty-fifth  parallel  as  "  the  Mississippi  by  conjecture."  McMaster  :  History  of 
the  People  of  the  United  States,  II.,  153. 


THE   NORTHWEST   WRESTED   FROM   ENGLAND.     IQI 

British  Government  resented,  and  so  the  whole  treaty  fell.  By 
the  purchase  of  1803  we  succeeded  to  all  the  rights,  as  respects 
Louisiana,  that  had  belonged  to  Spain  or  France,  and  this  car- 
ried us,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  north  to  the  British  posses- 
sions. By  a  convention  dated  October  20,  1818,  the  United 
States  and  England  settled  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  controversy, 
and  established  the  boundary  between  them  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

"  It  is  agreed  that  a  line  drawn  from  the  most  northwestern 
point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  along  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
of  north  latitude,  or  if  the  said  point  shall  not  be  in  the  forty- 
ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  then  that  a  line  drawn  from  the 
said  point  due  north  or  south,  as  the  case  may  be,  until  the 
said  line  shall  intersect  the  said  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and 
from  the  point  of  such  intersection  due  west  along  and  with 
the  said  parallel,  shall  be  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
territories  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  His  Britannic 
Majesty,  and  that  the  said  line  shall  form  the  northern  boun- 
dary of  the  said  territories  of  the  United  States,  and  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  the  territories  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  from 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Stony  Mountains." 

This  extract,  together  with  the  facts  of  geography,  explains 
the  singular  projection  of  our  northern  boundary  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  which  first  appeared  on  ordi- 
nary maps  some  ten  years  ago. 

The  line  from  the  intersection  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  par- 
allel 45°  north  to  the  foot  of  the  St.  Marys  was  established  in 
1823,  by  joint  commission  under  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  ;  the  line 
from  the  foot  of  the  St.  Marys  to  the  northwesternmost  point 
of  Lake  of  the  Woods,  by  the  Webster-Ashburton  Treaty  in 
1842. 


XL 
THE  NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS. 

THE  second  part  of  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  territorial 
questions  growing  out  of  the  royal  patents  and  charters  closed 
with  a  promise  to  consider,  in  the  proper  place,  the  similar 
question  affecting  the  old  Northwest.  In  fact,  the  only 
reason  for  introducing  the  charters  at  all  is  their  bearing  on 
Western  questions.  Accordingly,  this  chapter  will  be  given 
to  a  statement  of  the  Western  land-claims ;  the  two  fol- 
lowing chapters,  to  their  settlement.  Unfortunately,  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  whole  subject  is  often  colored  by  State  feel- 
ing or  by  patriotism.  Connecticut  writers  are  apt  to  stand 
for  the  Connecticut  claim,  New  York  writers  for  the  New 
York  claim,  while  Virginians  pride  themselves  on  Virginia's 
being  the  mother  of  States  as  well  as  of  statesmen.  Again, 
Western  men,  little  disposed  to  admit  that  the  Northwestern 
States  were  the  children  of  the  Atlantic  commonwealths,  and 
fond  of  looking  at  the  subject  from  a  national  point  of  view, 
tend  either  to  belittle  or  to  deny  the  titles  of  the  claimant 
States  to  the  Western  lands. 

In  her  constitution  of  1776,  Virginia  ceded,  released,  and 
forever  confirmed  to  the  people  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania, 
and  North  and  South  Carolina,  the  territories  contained 
within  their  charters,  so  far  as  they  were  embraced  in  her 
charter  of  1609,  with  all  the  rights  of  property,  jurisdiction, 
and  government,  and  all  other  rights  that  had  ever  been 
claimed  by  Virginia,  except  the  navigation  of  certain  rivers; 
after  which  she  said  : 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS.  193 

"  The  western  and  northern  extent  of  Virginia  shall,  in  all 
other  respects,  stand  as  fixed  by  the  charter  of  King  James  I., 
in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  nine,  and  the  public 
treaty  of  peace  between  the  Courts  of  Britain  and  France,  in 
the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three  ;  unless, 
by  act  of  this  Legislature,  one  or  more  governments  be  estab- 
lished westward  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  And  no  pur- 
chases of  lands  shall  be  made  of  the  Indian  natives,  but  on  be- 
half of  the  public,  by  authority  of  the  General  Assembly." 

This  declaration  meant,  that  Virginia  claimed  the  whole 
Northwest  as  falling  within  her  west  and  northwest  lines. 
The  claim  has  been  often  denied  by  historians,  statesmen, 
lawyers,  and  pamphleteers,  on  grounds  that  will  be  stated  as 
concisely  as  is  consistent  with  clearness. 

Probably  no  bolder  or  stronger  denial  was  ever  made  than 
that  of  Hon.  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  of  counsel  for  the  defendants 
in  the  case  of  Virginia  vs.  Peter  M.  Garner  and  others,1  be- 
fore the  General  Court  of  Virginia,  in  December,  1845.  The 
legal  question  involved  was  that  of  the  boundary  between  the 
States  of  Virginia  and  Ohio.  In  the  course  of  his  argument  to 
the  court  Mr.  Vinton  affirmed  the  following  historical  propo- 
sitions : 

(l)  "  That  Virginia,  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  set 
up  a  claim  to  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio ; "  (2)  "  that  she 
never  had  a  valid  title  to  it ;  "  (3)  "  that  her  title,  not  only  to 
it,  but  to  both  sides  of  the  Ohio,  was  disputed  by  the  Con- 

1  Garner  and  the  other  defendants,  citizens  of  Ohio,  were  seized  by  a  party  of 
Virginians,  between  low-water  and  high-water  mark,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Ohio  River,  in  the  act  of  assisting  some  slaves  belonging  to  one  Harwood,  a 
Virginian,  to  escape  from  slavery.  The  case  went  up  from  Wood  County  to  the 
General  Court  on  a  special  verdict,  the  question  being  whether  the  defendants 
were,  at  the  time  of  meeting  and  assisting  the  slaves,  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  Virginia  or  of  Ohio.  The  case  is  reported  at  length  in  Grattan,  Reports  of 
Cases  decided  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  and  in  the  General  Court  of  Vir- 
ginia, III.,  655.  Mr.  Vinton's  argument  was  published  in  pamphlet,  Marietta, 
O.,  1846  ;  and  it  is  also  found  in  the  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Ohio  State 
Fish  Commission,  1877. 
13 


194  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

federacy,  and  by  other  States ; "  (4)  "  that  they  claimed  all 
that  she  asserted  a  right  to ;  "  (5)  "  that,  in  the  end,  she  ad- 
justed her  claim  by  compromise  ;  "  (6)  "  that  she  relinquished 
her  claim  beyond  the  Ohio  with  the  express  understanding 
that  the  acceptance  of  her  act  of  cession  was  not  to  be  taken " 
as  an  admission  by  the  Confederacy  (who  was  the  grantee) 
that  Virginia  had  a  title  to  the  country  ceded  by  her ; "  (7) 
"  that  the  separate  and  acknowledged  right  of  Virginia  to  the 
country  on  the  lower,  and  of  the  Confederacy  to  that  on  the 
upper,  bank  of  the  Ohio,  began  with  this  compromise." 

From  these  propositions  Mr.  Vinton  deduced  others  of  a 
legal  nature  that  do  not  here  concern  us. 

These  seven  propositions  may  all  be  reduced  to  two,  for 
convenience.  The  first  of  these,  the  absolute  denial  of  the 
charter-title,  is  supported  by  this  chain  of  reasoning:  (i)  The 
Virginia  grant  of  1609  was  made  in  total  ignorance  of  the  ex- 
tent of  the  continent  and  of  the  grant  sought  to  be  conveyed  ; 

(2)  the  English  king  at  that  time  had  no  right  or  title  to  the 
lands  included  within  the  limits  beyond  the  Atlantic  slope ; 

(3)  the  charter  was  annulled  by  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  issued 
by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  in    1624,  and  was  never  re- 
newed ;  (4)  the  English  Crown's  later  title  to  the  country  be- 
tween the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi  was  the  treaty  with 
France  in  1763  ;  (5)  the  Crown  plainly  signified  by  numerous 
acts,  as  the  proclamation  of  1763  and  the  Walpole  grant  of 
1772,  that  colonial  Virginia  did  not  extend  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, and  that  the  over-mountain  lands  were  Crown  lands ; 
and  (6)  later  grants  than  that  of  1609,  as  those  to  the  Caro- 
lina proprietors,  to  Baltimore  and  Penn,  and  to  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies,  show  that  the  Crown  did  not  regard  those  limits 
as  conclusive,  either  on  the  sea-shore  or  in  the  West.     Mr. 
Vinton  rested  his  second  cardinal  proposition,  that  Virginia's 
title  to  the  country  southeast  of  the  Ohio  is  a  compromise 
with  other  States  and  with  Congress,  made  in  1784,  on  the 
history  of  the  cessions.     The  cessions  will  be  treated  in  the 
next  chapters,  and  need  not  be  anticipated  here.     Nearly  all 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS.  195 

the  judges  who  gave  opinions  in  Garner's  case  waived  the  his- 
torical issue  that  Mr.  Vinton  had  raised,  on  the  ground  that 
a  Virginia  court  could  not  question  the  fundamental  law  of 
the  State ;  but  the  temptation  proved  so  strong  that  some  of 
them  discussed  the  subject  more  or  less  at  length.  McComas, 
Judge,  thus  touched  some  of  the  points  involved  : 


"  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  inquire  into  the  rights  of  the 
British  king,  because  no  civilized  nations  had  claim  to  the 
country  except  England  and  France  ;  and,  by  treaty  between 
those  two  nations,  the  boundaries  were  ascertained  and  fixed 
between  them  ;  and  the  territory  in  controversy  was  acknowl- 
edged to  be  in  the  English  Crown,  and  of  course  by  that  treaty 
the  title  of  Virginia  to  the  lands  contained  in  her  charter,  and 
comprehended  in  the  limits  of  the  British  possessions,  was  con- 
firmed, and  thereby  made  good.  The  British  king  by  several 
acts,  and  particularly  by  grants  of  large  tracts  of  land,  ac- 
knowledged that  the  Northwestern  territory  was  Avithin  the 
jurisdiction  and  limits  of  Virginia.  .  .  .  But  it  is  stated 
that  the  charter  of  Virginia  was  annulled,  and  that  she  has  no 
right  to  claim  under  said  charter.  It  has  been  decided,  and  I 
think  rightly,  'that  the  charter  was  annulled  so  far  as  the  rights 
of  the  company  were  concerned,  but  not  in  respect  to  the  rights 
of  the  Colony.  The  powers  of  government,  the  same  powers 
which  the  charter  had  vested  in  the  company  as  proprietor, 
were  vested  in  the  Crown  :  the  same  title  to  the  lands  within  its 
chartered  limits,  which  the  charter  had  vested  in  the  company, 
was  revested  in  the  Crown.'  .  .  . 

"In  relation  to  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River, 
it  ought  to  be  recollected  that  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  before  the  cession,  Virginia  conquered  the  territory  by  her 
own  troops,  unaided  by  the  other  States  of  the  Union  ;  and 
formed  the  whole  territory  into  the  county  of  Illinois.  It 
therefore  seems  to  me,  as  the  territory  was  not  within  the 
chartered  limits  of  any  other  State,  and  as  it  undoubtedly  be- 
longed to  the  British  Crown,  this  conquest  would  give  Virginia 
an  undoubted  right  to  it." 


196  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Lomax,  Judge,  held  that: 

"The  charter  of  1609  was  the  commencement  of  the  colo- 
nial or  political  existence  of  Virginia  ;  and  it  was  that  charter 
which  separated  and  designated  the  country  called  Virginia, 
and  the  community  which  was  settled  upon  it.  That  charter 
became  the  primal  and  perpetual  law  of  this  Commonwealth. 
The  Crown  of  England,  when  by  the  judgment  of  quo  warranto 
against  the  company  in  London  it  took  the  charter  out  of  their 
hands,  did  not  cancel  the  charter.  The  government  of  the  Col- 
ony, when  it  thereby  became  a  Royal  Colony,  was  still  ad- 
ministered according  to  the  scheme  of  government  established 
by  the  previous  charters.  The  rights  guaranteed  to  the  people 
of  Virginia  by  that  charter,  were  frequently  and  strenuously 
appealed  to,  down  to  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  contest,  as 
the  chartered  rights  of  Virginians.  In  March,  1651,  the  treaty 
between  Virginia  and  the  commonwealth  of  England,  stipu- 
lated that  Virginia  should  have,  and  enjoy  the  ancient  bounds 
and  limits  granted  by  the  charters  of  the  former  Kings.  This 
was  a  recognition  in  the  most  solemn  form,  notwithstanding 
the  judgment  above  referred  to  in  1624,  of  the  boundaries  of 
Virginia  and  of  her  ancient  charters.  The  subsequent  grants 
by  the  King  to  Penn,  Baltimore,  and  Carteret  could  not  disturb 
those  limits,  but  to  the  extent  that  those  grants  conveyed  ;  and 
even  to  that  extent  were  remonstrated  against  by  the  colony. 
.  .  .  There  are  many  public  acts  of  the  Colonial  govern- 
ment of  Virginia,  in  which  her  title  was  asserted,  and  dominion 
exercised  by  her  over  the  territories  she  claimed,  as  her  west- 
ern territories,  extending  to  the  River  Ohio,  and  beyond  it, 
including  the  present  State  of  Ohio ;  nor  was  any  question 
ever  raised  as  to  that  title  or  dominion  by  any  civilized  people, 
except  for  a  time  by  the  French.  These  acts  show  that  she 
had  extended  her  jurisdiction  over  the  Northwestern  territory 
which  was  ceded,  and  that  she  had  made  grants  of  lands  and 
settlements  on  the  Ohio.  In  all  these  acts  the  consent  of  the 
King,  the  proprietor  of  the  colony,  must  necessarily  have  been 
given  by  himself  or  those  who  were  authorized  by  him  to  give 
it.  For  in  all  the  laws  and  public  acts  of  the  Colony,  the  ap- 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS.  197 

probation  of  the  sovereign,  or  of  a  substitute,  fully  represent- 
ing him  as  to  that  matter,  was  indispensable." 

The  learned  judge  then  recounts  a  long  series  of  public 
acts  in  which  Virginia  exercised  sovereignty  west  of  the 
mountains.  Among  the  most  prominent  of  these  are  the  cre- 
ation of  counties:  Orange,  in  1734;  Augusta,  in  1738;  Bote- 
tourt,  in  1769,  "  bounded  west  by  the  utmost  limits  of  Vir- 
ginia." The  act  creating  one  of  these  counties  speaks  of 
"  the  people  situated  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  "  as 
living  "  very  remote  from  their  court-house."  Other  coun- 
ties erected  before  the  Revolution  extended  to  the  Ohio,  and 
embraced  Kentucky.  The  Dinwiddie  proclamation  of  1754, 
offering  lands  to  volunteers  to  serve  against  the  French — one 
hundred  thousand  acres  contiguous  to  the  fort  at  the  Forks 
of  the  Ohio,  and  one  hundred  thousand  on  or  near  the  Ohio 
— was  recognized  by  the  Virginia  land-law  of  1779.  In  1752 
and  1753  Virginia  passed  acts  for  encouraging  persons  to  settle 
on  the  Mississippi  ("  meaning,  doubtless,  the  waters  of  Ohio  ") ; 
and  in  1754  and  1755  acts  for  their  protection.  Grants  of  land 
on  the  southeastern  side  of  the  Ohio,  made  in  the  colonial 
period,  were  numerous.  Marshall's  "  Life  of  Washington  "  is 
quoted  as  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  grant  made 
to  the  Ohio  Company  in  1748  was  made  as  a  part  of  Virginia. 
The  proclamation  of  1763  was  obviously  designed  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  peace  with  the  Indians,  and  their  enjoyment  of 
the  hunting-grounds.  The  Treaty  of  Paris,  1763,  limited  the 
colony  on  the  west ;  but  Virginia  continued  to  fill  up  and  oc- 
cupy, both  geographically  and  politically,  the  territory  to  the 
Mississippi,  "  until  that  signal  act  of  her  sovereignty  over  the 
Western  territories  was  exercised  by  her  in  the  cession  she 
made  of  them  in  March,  1784,  and  which  was  consummated  by 
the  acceptance  of  it  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assem- 
bled upon  the  same  day." 

These  facts  certainly  demolish  Mr.  Vinton's  proposition 
that  the  Virginia  claim  was  "  set  up  "  during  the  Revolution. 


198  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  grant  made  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  1664  was 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Delaware  River.  But  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution,  as  well  as  before  that  time, 
New  York  claimed  a  far  greater  western  extension,  on  these 
grounds:  (i)  That  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
boundary  east  of  the  Hudson  barred  the  New  England  colonies 
on  the  west ;  (2)  that  the  quo  warranto  of  1624  and  the  grant  to 
Penn  limited  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  on  the  west,  the  first 
by  the  Alleghanies,  the  second  by  the  five-degree  line  west 
of  the  Delaware ;  (3)  that  the  country  west  of  these  lines  be- 
longed to  the  Iroquois,  in  the  north  from  times  immemorial, 
in  the  south  after  the  Iroquois  conquest  of  1664;  (4)  that  after 
1624,  1664,  and  1681,  the  pre-emption  of  the  West  was  vested 
in  the  Crown,  not  in  particular  colonies ;  (5)  that  the  acces- 
sion of  the  Duke  of  York,  the  proprietary  of  the  province,  to 
the  throne,  in  1685,  affiliated  the  territory  on  the  two  sides 
of  the  Delaware  north  of  Penn's  line ;  and  (6)  that  the  later 
Iroquois  treaties  made  the  whole  Western  country,  from  the 
Lower  Lakes  to  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  and  from  Vir- 
ginia and  Pennsylvania  to  the  Mississippi  River,  a  part  of 
New  York.  A  report  on  the  Western  land-claims,  made  in 
Congress,  November  3,  1781,  preferred  the  New  York  claims 
to  all  those  with  which  it  conflicted,  and  thus  justified  the 
preference : 

"  i.  It  clearly  appeared  to  your  committee,  that  all  the  lands 
belonging  to  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians,  and  their  tributaries, 
have  been  in  due  form  put  under  the  protection  of  the  crown 
of  England  by  the  said  Six  Nations,  as  appendant  to  the  late 
government  of  New  York,  so  far  as  respects  jurisdiction  only. 

"  2.  That  the  citizens  of  the  said  colony  of  New  York  have 
borne  the  burthen  both  as  to  blood  and  treasure,  of  protecting 
and  supporting  the  said  Six  Nations  of  Indians,  and  their  tribu- 
taries, for  upwards  of  one  hundred  years  last  past,  as  the  de- 
pendents and  allies  of  the  said  government. 

"  3.  That  the  crown  of  England  has  always  considered  and 
treated  the  country  of  the  said  Six  Nations,  and  their  tributa- 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS.  199 

ries,  inhabiting  as  far  as  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  as 
appendant  to  the  government  of  New  York. 

."  4.  That  the  neighboring  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  have  also, 
from  time  to  time,  by  their  public  acts,  recognized  and  admitted 
the  said  Six  Nations  and  their  tributaries,  to  be  appendant  to 
the  government  of  New  York. 

"  5.  That  by  Congress  accepting  this  cession,  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  whole  western  territory  belonging  to  the  Six  Na- 
tions, and  their  tributaries,  will  be  vested  in  the  United  States 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  Union."  l 

At  this  distance  it  is  difficult,  notwithstanding  the  particu- 
larity of  this  report,  to  repel  Mr.  Hildreth's  characterization  of 
the  New  York  claim  as  the  "  vaguest  and  most  shadowy  of 
all."  *  Furthermore,  there  is  reason  to  think  the  report  part 
of  a  political  scheme  that  will  be  duly  noticed  hereafter.  But 
here  it  is  pertinent  to  point  out  that  this  claim  was  virtually 
the  claim  to  the  Northwest  which  England  made  just  before 
the  French  War,  characterized  by  Mr.  Parkman  as  including 
every  mountain,  forest,  or  prairie  where  an  Iroquois  had  taken 
a  scalp.8 

The  two  New  England  States  rested  their  claims  on  the 
charters  with  which  the  reader  is  already  familiar.  Connecti- 
cut's claim,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  zone 
lying  between  parallels  41°  and  42°  2'  north  latitude,  and 
Massachusetts's,  the  zone  north  of  this  to  the  parallel  of  three 
miles  beyond  the  inflow  of  Lake  Winnipiseogee  in  New 
Hampshire ;  both  claims  extending  from  the  Delaware  and 
the  line  thereof  to  the  Mississippi.  Connecticut's  claim  was 
largely  reduced  by  the  Trenton  decision  of  1782;  but  this 
in  no  way  affected  her  rights  west  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was 
urged  that  these  claims  were  barred  west  of  the  present  west- 


1  Journals  of  Congress,  IV.,  21,  22.  *  History,  III.,  399. 

8  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  L,  125. 


200  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

era  limits  of  these  States :  (i)  By  the  words,  "  actually  pos- 
sessed and  occupied  by  a  Christian  people  or  prince,"  found 
in  the  Plymouth  charter  of  1620,  because  they  related  to  the 
lands  west  of  the  Dutch  settlements ;  (2)  by  the  presence  of 
the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  in  1620,  1629,  and  1662;  (3)  by 
the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York ;  (4)  by  the  boundary-settle- 
ment of  1733  ;  (5)  by  the  grant  to  Penn  in  1681  ;  and  (6)  by 
New  York's  Iroquois  title.  Stress  was  also  laid  on  the  old 
argument  against  the  from  sea-to-sea  grants  ;  viz.,  they  were 
made  in  ignorance  of  geography,  and  included  vast  tracts  of 
land  that. did  not,  at  the  time,  belong  to  the  English  Crown. 
The  most  important  of  these  points  were  sustained  by  Attor- 
ney-General Pratt  in  1761,  who  also  held  that  there  were 
State  reasons  for  deciding  the  Wyoming  controversy  in  favor 
of  Pennsylvania ;  but  Thurlow,  and  the  other  Crown  lawyers 
consulted  by  Connecticut,  held  that  the  reservation  made  in 
the  charter  of  1620  did  "  not  extend  to  lands  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Dutch  settlements  ; "  that  the  Plymouth  grant  did  not 
mean  to  except  in  favor  of  anyone  anything  to  the  westward 
of  such  plantations;  that  the  agreement  of  1733  between 
Connecticut  and  New  York  extended  "  no  further  than  to 
settle  the  boundaries  between  the  respective  parties,"  and 
"  had  no  effect  upon  other  claims  that  either  of  them  had  in 
other  parts ; "  and  that  as  the  charter  to  Connecticut  was 
granted  but  eighteen  years  before  that  to  Penn,  there  was  "  no 
ground  to  contend  that  the  Crown  could,  at  that  period, 
make  an  effective  grant  to  him  of  that  country  which  had 
been  so  recently  granted  to  others." ' 

The  two  New  England  claims  rested  on  substantially  the 
same  foundation ;  but  it  is  curious  to  note  how  differently 
they  were  treated  east  of  the  western  limits  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York.  A  Federal  court  threw  the  one  claim  aside 
as  invalid,  while  the  State  of  New  York  virtually  conceded 


1  Hoyt  gives  the  substance  of  the  two  opinions :  Title  in  the  Seventeen  Town- 
ships in  the  County  of  Luzerne,  32,  33. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   LAND-CLAIMS.  2OI 

the  validity  of  the  other  in  her  compromise  with  Massachu- 
setts in  1786. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  the  national  limits  made 
|  August  16,  1782,  assigns  the  treaties  of  1684,  1701,  1726,  1744, 
and  1754,  with  the  Six  Nations,  as  the  sources  of  New  York's 
title  to  the  West.1  The  report  of  January  8th  on  the  same 
subject  speaks  of  the  royal  geographer,  in  a  map  describing 
and  distinguishing  the  British,  Spanish,  and  French  dominions 
in  America  according  to  the  treaty  of  1763,  as  carrying  the 
States  of  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Vir- 
ginia as  far  as  the  Mississippi.4  Some  maps  of  that  period,  it 
may  be  added,  do  carry  the  east  and  west  lines  of  these  States 
as  far  as  the  great  river ;  others  carry  them  no  farther  than 
the  mountains ;  but  all  maps  making  any  pretentions  to  thor- 
oughness lay  down  the  lines  of  the  royal  proclamation. 

Such  were  the  Northwestern  land-claims  that,  for  many 
years,  were  a  foremost  question  of  domestic  polity.  Practi- 
cally they  were  not  heard  of  until  the  time  came  for  the 
American  column  to  pass  the  Endless  Mountains  and  take 
possession  of  the  Great  West.  And,  strange  to  say  consider- 
ing the  vehemence  with  which  they  were  afterward  disputed, 
the  first  time  they  were  brought  before  a  Congress  of  the 
Colonies  they  met  with  a  unanimous  approval. 

NOTE. — These  are  the  resolutions  in  which  the  Albany  Con- 
gress set  its  seal  to  the  claims  in  1754. 

"  That  His  Majesty's  title  to  the  northern  continent  of 
America  appears  to  be  founded  on  the  discovery  thereof  first 
made,  and  the  possession  thereof  first  taken  in  1497,  under  a 
commission  from  Henry  the  Seventh  of  England  to  Sebastian 
Cabot :  That  the  French  have  possessed  themselves  of  several 
parts  of  this  continent,  which  by  treaties  have  been  ceded  and 
confirmed  to  them. 

"That  the  right  of  the  English  to  the  whole  sea-coast  from 
Georgia  on  the  south,  to  the  river  St.  Lawrence  on  the  north, 

1  Secret  Journals,  IIL,  168.  2Ibid.,  III.,  154. 


202  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

excepting  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  the  Islands  in  the  bay 
of  St.  Lawrence  remains  indisputable  : 

"  That  all  the  lands  or  countries  westward  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  to  the  South  Sea,  between  48  and  34  degrees  north  lati- 
tude, was  expressly  included  in  the  grant  of  King  Charles  the 
First  to  divers  of  his  subjects,  so  long  since  as  the  year  1606, 
and  afterwards  confirmed  in  1620,  and  under  this  grant  the 
colony  of  Virginia  claims  extent  as  far  west  as  the  South  Sea, 
and  the  ancient  colonies  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  Con- 
necticut, were  by  their  respective  charters  made  to  extend  to 
the  said  South  Sea  ;  so  that  not  only  the  right  to  the  sea-coast, 
but  all  the  inland  countries  from  sea  to  sea,  has  at  all  times 
been  asserted  by  the  crown  of  England  : 

"That  the  bounds  of  those  colonies,  which  extend  to  the 
South  Seas,  be  contracted  and  limited  by  the  Alleghany  or 
Appalachian  mountains  ;  and  that  measures  be  taken  for  settling 
from  time  to  time,  colonies  of  his  Majesty's  Protestant  subjects 
west  of  said  mountains,  in  convenient  cantons  to  be  assigned 
for  that  purpose  ;  and  finally,  that  there  be  a  union  of  his  Maj- 
esty's several  governments  on  the  continent,  that  so  their  coun- 
cils, treasures,  and  strength,  may  be  employed  in  due  propor- 
tion against  their  common  enemy." 


XII. 

THE  NORTHWESTERN  CESSIONS.— (I.) 

THE  United  States  and  the  States  taken  together  might 
possibly  have  continued  conterminous  until  the  Louisiana  an- 
nexation in  1803,  provided  all  the  States  had  been  bounded 
on  the  west  by  the  Mississippi  River.  But  such  was  not  the 
case.  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  Dela- 
ware, and  Maryland  were  all  confined  to  the  Atlantic  Plain, 
and  Pennsylvania  did  not  extend  far  beyond  the  Forks  of  the 
Ohio ;  while  the  seven  remaining  States  claimed  the  whole 
West,  from  the  Florida  line  to  the  Lakes,  and  some  of  it  two 
and  even  three  times  over.  The  division  of  the  States  into 
the  two  classes,  in  connection  with  the  nature  of  the  war, 
made  the  Western  lands  an  inevitable  issue.  The  claimant 
States  were  more  numerous,  more  populous,  and  more  wealthy 
than  the  non-claimant  States,  not  to  speak  of  their  territorial 
superiority ;  they  also  stood  on  the  plain  federal  principle 
that  the  Confederation  was  the  States  confederated ;  but  they 
could  not  prevent  the  issue  being  raised  or  prevent  its  going 
against  them  in  the  end.  Before  the  boundaries  of  1783 
were  agreed  upon,  Congress  had  adopted  a  policy  that  ul- 
timately gave  the  jurisdiction  of  the  West,  and  a  large  part  of 
the  lands,  to  the  nation ;  and  we  are  now  to  follow  the  de- 
velopment of  this  policy  so  far  as  it  relates  to  our  subject. 

On  October  14,  1777,  Congress  adopted  the  following  rule 
for  supplying  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  : 

"  All  charges  of  war  and  all  other  expenses  that  shall  be 
incurred  for  the  common  defence  or  general  welfare,  and  al- 


204  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

lowed  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be 
defrayed  out  of  a  common  treasury  which  shall  be  supplied  by 
the  several  states,  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  all  land  within 
each  state  granted  to,  or  surveyed  for,  any  person,  as  such 
land  and  the  buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  esti- 
mated according  to  such  mode  as  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled  shall  from  time  to  time  direct  and  appoint."  ' 

This  rule,  which  left  the  States  wholly  free  to  raise  the 
supplies  for  the  treasury  in  their  own  way,  was  made  a  part 
of  Article  VIII.  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  vote 
on  this  rule  does  not  appear  to  have  been  influenced  by  the 
land-issue.  That  issue  was  first  raised  the  following  day, 
when  this  proposition,  submitted  no  doubt  by  one  of  the 
delegates  from  that  State,  received  the  single  vote  of  Mary- 
land : 

"  That  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have 
the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  to  ascertain  and  fix  the 
western  boundary  of  such  states  as  claim  to  the  Mississippi  or 
the  South  Sea,  and  lay  out  the  land  beyond  the  boundary  so  ascer- 
tained into  separate  and  independent  states,  from  time  to  time,  as  the 
numbers  and  circumstances  of  the  people  thereof  may  require" 

Because  this  was  the  first  proposition  "  that  Congress  should 
exercise  sovereign  jurisdiction  over  the  Western  country," 
Prof.  H.  B.  Adams  calls  it  a  "  pioneer  thought.  * "  In  one  re- 
spect it  is  a  very  different  thought  from  that  which  finally 
prevailed.  The  proposition  was  really  double — an  end  to  be 
gained  and  a  means  of  gaining  it.  The  end  was  national 
jurisdiction  over  the  Western  lands  ;  the  means,  the  assertion 
of  this  jurisdiction  by  Congress,  no  more  attention  being  paid 
to  the  claimant  than  to  the  non-claimant  States.  It  was  a 

1  The  history  of  the  Confederation  in  Congress  is  found  in  the  Secret  Jour- 
nals of  Congress,  L,  283  et  seq.  The  citations  will  be  found  under  the  appro- 
priate dates. 

8  Maryland's  Influence  upon  Land  Cessions  to  the  United  States,  23. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  2O$ 

plain  proposition  to  nationalize  the  lands.  The  end  was  the 
highest  statesmanship ;  but  if  Congress  had  adopted  the 
means  of  reaching  it  proposed  by  Maryland,  it  is  reasonably 
certain  that  the  Confederation  and  the  patriot  cause  would 
have  been  hopelessly  wrecked. 

Scenting  danger,  the  claimant  States,  October  27th,  caused 
a  declaration  to  be  incorporated  in  the  Articles  that  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled  should  be  the  last  re- 
sort, on  appeal,  in  all  disputes  and  differences  between  two 
or  more  States  concerning  boundaries,  jurisdiction,  or  any 
other  cause  whatever,  with  an  elaborate  machinery  for  the 
exercise  of  such  jurisdiction.  The  amendment  closed  with 
this  bulwark  against  "  pioneer  thoughts,"  or  other  encroach- 
ments, on  the  Western  preserves  :  "  No  State  shall  be  de- 
prived of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States." 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, and  North  Carolina  voted  for  the  amendment ;  New 
Hampshire  voted  against  it ;  New  Jersey  and  South  Carolina 
were  divided  ;  Maryland  and  Georgia  were  not  present  or 
voting ;  and  Connecticut  was  not  counted,  as  but  one  mem- 
ber was  present. 

Within  a  month  of  the  time  that  Maryland  brought  for- 
ward her  "  pioneer  thought,"  the  Congress  had  perfected  the 
Articles  of  Confederation;  and  November  17,  1777,  they 
were  sent  out  to  the  States,  with  a  circular  letter  recommend- 
ing that  they  empower  their  delegates  in  Congress  to  ratify 
them  in  their  name  and  behalf. 

Some  of  the  legislatures  promptly  gave  their  delegates 
such  instructions,  and  some  hesitated.  A  number  of  amend- 
ments to  the  Articles  were  proposed,  and  of  these  several  re- 
lated to  the  land-question.1  One  of  those  that  came  from 
Maryland  was  a  virtual  renewal  of  the  proposition  of  the  year 
before,  but  in  a  somewhat  less  emphatic  form.  Rhode  Island, 

1  All  the  amendments  proposed  may  be  found  in  the  Secret  Journals,  L,  un- 
der June  22,  23,  1778. 


206  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  all  non- 
claimant  States,  voted  for  this  amendment ;  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  all 
claimant  States  but  the  first,  voted  against  it ;  New  York 
was  divided  ;  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  not  present 
or  voting.  Rhode  Island  submitted  the  following  amend- 
ment, which  was  also  lost,  nine  votes  to  one  : 

"  That  all  lands  within  these  States,  the  property  of  which, 
before  the  present  war,  was  vested  in  the  Crown  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, or  out  of  which  revenues  from  quit  rents  arise  payable  to 
the  said  Crown,  shall  be  deemed,  taken,  and  considered  as  the 
property  of  these  United  States,  and  be  disposed  of  and  ap- 
propriated by  Congress  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  Confed- 
eracy, reserving,  however,  to  the  States,  within  whose  limits 
such  Crown  lands  may  be,  the  entire  and  complete  jurisdiction 
thereof." 

New  Jersey  laid  before  Congress  a  lengthy  "  representa- 
tion," in  which  she  stated,  though  not  in  the  form  of  amend- 
ments, her  views  on  various  provisions  of  the  Articles.  This 
document  touched  the  land-issue  at  two  points:  (i)  "The 
boundaries  and  limits  of  each  State  ought  to  be  fully  and 
finally  fixed  and  made  known;"  and  if  circumstances  did  not 
admit  of  this  being  done  before  the  Articles  were  ratified 
and  went  into  effect,  then  it  should  be  done  afterward,  not 
exceeding  five  years  from  the  final  ratification  of  the  Confeder- 
ation. (2)  It  was  urged  that  the  war  was  undertaken  for  the 
general  defence  of  the  confederating  States  ;  that  the  benefits 
derived  from  a  successful  contest  should  be  general  and  pro- 
portionate ;  that  the  property  of  the  common  enemy,  acquired 
during  the  war,  should  belong  to  the  United  States  and  be 
appropriated  to  their  use ;  that  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
should  empower  Congress  to  dispose  of  such  property,  and  es- 
pecially the  vacant  and  unpatented  lands,  commonly  called 
the  "  Crown  Lands,"  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and 
for  other  general  purposes  ;  but  that  the  jurisdiction  ought,  in 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  20/ 

every  instance,  to  belong  to  the  respective  States  within  the 
charter  or  determined  limits  of  which  such  lands  may  be 
seated.  These  recommendations  were  voted  down,  receiving 
but  three  votes  to  six  against  them. 

None  of  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  States  received 
much  consideration ;  they  were  voted  down  one  and  all,  in  the 
apparent  belief  that  the  surest  and  quickest  way  to  complete 
the  Confederation  was  to  adhere  to  the  Articles  as  originally 
adopted.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  opposition  to  the  land" 
claims  of  the  claimant  States  was  broadening  and  deepening. 
At  the  same  time,  we  must  not  overlook  the  difference  be- 
tween the  "  pioneer  thought  "  brought  forward  by  Maryland 
in  1777  and  the  propositions  now  submitted  by  Rhode  Island 
and  New  Jersey.  The  first  was  that  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled  should  assert  jurisdiction  over  the  West- 
ern lands ;  the  others  were,  that  the  lands,  or  parts  of  them, 
should  be  disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  States,  or  of  the 
nation  as  a  unit,  not  disturbing  the  jurisdiction. 

The  Confederation  had  now  been  fully  ratified  by  eight 
States,  and  of  the  five  others,  North  Carolina  had  empowered 
her  delegates  to  do  so.  The  four  that  had  not  ratified  were 
Maryland,  Delaware,  New  Jersey,  and  Georgia.  To  these 
Congress,  on  July  10,  1778,  sent  a  circular  letter,  urging  them 
to  instruct  their  delegates  to  ratify  "  with  all  convenient  des- 
patch," putting  forward  as  the  one  conclusive  argument  that 
Congress  had  "  never  ceased  to  consider  a  confederacy  as  the 
great  principle  of  union,  which  can  alone  establish  the  liberty 
of  America,  and  elude  forever  the  hopes  of  its  enemies." 
Future  deliberations  should  be  trusted  to  make  such  alterations 
and  amendments  as  experience  might  show  to  be  expedient 
and  just.  Georgia  responded  to  this  appeal  at  once,  and  New 
Jersey  soon  followed. 

In  the  act  empowering  her  delegates  to  ratify  the  Articles, 
the  legislature  of  New  Jersey  reaffirmed  that  they  would,  in 
diverse  particulars,  be  unequal  and  disadvantageous  to  that 
State,  but  that  she  was  willing,  in  reliance  on  the  justice  and 


208  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

candor  of  the  several  States,  to  surrender  her  State  interest  to 
the  general  good  of  the  Union.1  On  February  22,  1779,  ^Q 
Delaware  delegates  ratified  the  Articles  in  behalf  of  that 
State,  and  the  day  following  laid  before  Congress  some  resolu- 
tions which  the  Delaware  Council  had  adopted,  asserting  that 
moderate  limits  should  be  assigned  to  the  States  claiming  to 
the  Mississippi ;  that  Congress  should  have  the  power  of  fix- 
ing those  limits  ;  also  that  Delaware  was  justly  entitled  to  a 
right,  in  common  with  the  other  members  of  the  Union,  to  the 
lands  westward  of  the  frontiers,  the  property  of  which  was 
vested  in  individual  States  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  but 
that  ought  now  "  to  be  a  common  estate  to  be  granted  out  on 
terms  beneficial  to  the  United  States,"  since  they  have  been 
or  must  be  gained  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  all.  Congress 
received  and  filed  this  paper,  but  declared  "  that  it  should 
never  be  considered  as  admitting  any  claim  by  the  same  set 
up  or  intended  to  be  set  up." 

The  ratification  of  Delaware  left  Maryland  standing  soli- 
tary and  alone ;  but  she  still  refused  her  ratification  as 
stoutly  as  ever.  Moreover,  she  refused  it  on  the  sole  ground 
that  she  defined  in  the  amendment  Article  proposed  October 
I5»  I777-  As  her  assent  alone  was  wanting  to  complete  the 
Confederation,  Maryland  felt  compelled  to  justify  herself  to 
Congress  and  to  her  sister  States.  In  fact,  she  had  already 
taken  the  first  steps  in  that  direction  before  Delaware's  final 
assent  to  the  Articles  was  given. 

On  December  15,  1778,  the  Maryland  Legislature  adopted 
a  "  declaration,"  stating  her  objections  to  the  policy  touching 
the  Western  lands  thus  far  pursued.  It  was  declared  funda- 
mentally wrong  and  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  equity 
and  good  policy  that  Maryland,  or  any  other  State  entering 
into  the  Confederation,  should  be  burdened  with  heavy  ex- 
penses for  the  subduing  and  guaranteeing  of  immense  tracts  of 
country,  if  she  is  not  in  any  way  to  be  benefited  thereby. 


1  The  Secret  Journals,  IV.,  422. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  209 

Maryland  will  ratify  the  Confederation  when  it  is  so  amended 
as  to  give  full  power  to  Congress  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  west- 
ern limits  of  the  States  claiming  to  extend  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  expressly  to  reserve  to  the  United  States  a  right  in  com- 
mon in  and  to  all  the  lands  lying  to  the  westward  of  the 
frontiers  as  thus  fixed,  not  granted  to,  or  surveyed  for,  or  pur- 
chased by  individuals  at  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
Further,  the  exclusive  claim  set  up  by  some  States  to  the 
whole  Western  country  is  declared  to  be  without  any  solid 
foundation ;  and  it  will,  if  submitted  to,  prove  ruinous  to 
Maryland  and  to  other  States  similarly  circumstanced,  and, 
in  process  of  time,  be  the  means  of  subverting  the  Confeder- 
acy.1 This  document,  which  was  intended  to  influence  public 
opinion  as  well  as  Congress,  was  brought  forward  in  Con- 
gress, January  6,  1779;  but  a  longer  and  more  earnest  one, 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  on  the  same  day,  entitled 
"  Instructions  to  the  Maryland  Delegates,"  was  not  presented 
until  May  2ist.a  The  two  documents  are  the  defence  of  her 
position  that  Maryland  made  to  the  country. 

The  "  instructions  "  assume  that  some  of  the  States  have 
acceded  to  the  Confederation  from  dread  of  immediate  ca- 
lamities growing  out  of  the  war  and  other  peculiar  circum- 
stances, and  that,  when  these  causes  cease  to  operate,  said  States 
will  consider  it  no  longer  binding,  but  will  improve  the  first 
favorable  opportunity  to  assert  their  just  rights  and  secure 
their  independence.  The  Western  lands,  if  the  course  marked 
out  is  persisted  in,  will  present  such  an  opportunity.  The 
same  grasping  spirit  that  leads  the  claimant  States  "to  insist 
on  a  claim  so  extravagant,  so  repugnant  to  every  principle  of 
justice,  so  incompatible  with  the  general  welfare  of  the  States, 
will  urge  them  on  to  add  oppression  to  injustice."  The  de- 
population and  impoverishment  of  the  non-claimant  States, 


1  This  declaration,  with  other  important  papers  relating  to  the  same  subject, 
is  found  in  Hening"s  Statutes  of  Virginia,  X.,  546  et  seq. 
5  Found  in  the  Secret  Journals,  under  this  date. 
14 


210  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

if  not  their  oppression  by  open  force,  will  follow.  The  prob- 
able consequences  to  Maryland  of  the  undisputed  possession 
by  Virginia  of  the  Western  country  that  she  claimed  are  thus 
vigorously  described : 

"Virginia,  by  selling  on  the  most  moderate  terms  a  small 
proportion  of  the  lands  in  question,  would  draw  into  her  treas- 
ury vast  sums  of  money  ;  and  in  proportion  to  the  sums  arising 
from  such  sales,  would  be  enabled  to  lessen  her  taxes.  Lands 
comparatively  cheap,  and  taxes  comparatively  low,  with  the 
lands  and  taxes  of  an  adjacent  state,  would  quickly  drain  the 
State  thus  disadvantageously  circumstanced  of  its  most  useful 
inhabitants  ;  its  wealth  and  its  consequence  in  the  scale  of  the 
confederated  States  would  sink  of  course.  A  claim  so  injurious 
to  more  than  one-half,  if  not  to  the  whole  of  the  United  States, 
ought  to  be  supported  by  the  clearest  evidence  of  the  right. 
Yet  what  evidences  of  that  right  have  been  produced  ?  What 
arguments  alleged  in  support  either  of  the  evidence  or  the 
right  ?  None  that  we  have  heard  of  deserving  a  serious  refuta- 
tion." 

To  the  argument  that  some  of  the  States  were  too  large 
for  one  practicable  government,  and  that  it  would  be  found 
necessary  to  divide  them  into  two  States  even  if  the  Articles 
stood  as  they  were,  it  was  replied  that,  for  a  State  to  divide 
its  territory  to  erect  under  its  auspices  and  direction  a  new 
State,  upon  which  it  would  impose  its  own  form  of  govern- 
ment, binding  the  new  State  to  itself  by  some  alliance  or  con- 
federacy, and  influencing  its  councils,  thus  forming  a  sub-con- 
federacy, imperium  in  imperio,  would  certainly  be  opposed  by 
the  other  States  as  inconsistent  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
the  proposed  Confederation.  Moreover,  if  these  States  con- 
template such  a  policy,  why  insist  now  upon  the  territories 
that  they  intend  to  surrender  ?  But  two  motives  can  be  as- 
signed. Either  the  suggestion  is  made  to  lull  suspicion  and 
to  cover  the  designs  of  the  secret  coalition,  or  the  purpose  is 
to  reap  an  immediate  profit  from  the  sale  of  the  lands. 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  211 

The  Maryland  proposition  as  presented  in  1777  is  then  re- 
affirmed,'and  the  Maryland  delegates  are  instructed  not  to 
ratify  the  Confederation  unless  an  amendment  be  added  in 
conformity  with  that  view  ;  but  should  the  delegates  succeed 
in  obtaining  such  an  amendment,  then  they  are  fully  empow- 
ered to  ratify  it.  The  document  closes  with  a  fervent  hope 
that  Congress  may  be  led  by  these  arguments  to  amend  the 
Articles  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  about  a  permanent 
union. 

The  fallacy  that  there  is  value  in  wild  lands  appears  to 
have  been  universally  accepted  in  Congress  and  the  States 
one  hundred  years  ago.  It  was  constantly  assumed  that  the 
Western  lands,  when  sold,  would  enormously  enrich  the  claim- 
ant States  or  the  Nation,  as  the  case  might  be  ;  while  experi- 
ence has  proved,  in  this  case  as  in  many  others,  that  the  man 
who  subdues  such  land  "  can,"  as  Professor  W.  G.  Sumner 
puts  it,  "  only  afford  to  give  a  remuneration  for  the  survey 
which  secures  him  a  definite  description  and  identification  of 
the  land  which  he  has  appropriated,  and  for  the  authority  of 
a  civil  government  which  protects  his  title."  1  In  the  long 
run,  the  national  Government  has  not  found  the  public  do- 
main a  source  of  revenue. 

The  economical  arguments  so  warmly  urged  by  the  non- 
claimant  States  were,  therefore,  next  to  worthless.  Besides, 
the  most  weighty  political  arguments  in  favor  of  nationalizing 
the  lands  were  practically  overlooked,  or  at  least  not  carried 
out  to  their  results. 

As  the  Articles  were  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Per- 
petual Union  among  thirteen  States,  the  ratifications  of  the 
twelve  did  not  give  them  force  and  effect  even  over  the 
twelve.  Maryland  refused  to  close  the  circle,  and  her  refusal 
was  followed  by  very  serious  results.  The  machinery  that 


1  Andrew  Jackson  as  a  Public  Man. — Professor  Sumner  says  (p.  185) :  "  Down 
to  September  30,  1832,  the  lands  had  cost  $49.7  million  and  the  total  revenue 
received  from  them  had  amounted  to  $38.2  million." 


212  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  Articles  furnished  for  filling  the  treasury  and  recruiting 
the  army  could  not  be  set  in  motion  ;  the  domestic  and  for- 
eign enemies  of  the  national  cause  were  elated  at  the  appear- 
ance of  serious  dissensions  among  the  States  ;  and  the  friends 
of  the  cause  were  correspondingly  depressed. 

Virginia  now  prepared  practically  to  assert  her  claim  to 
the  lands  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  In  May,  1779, 
the  very  month  that  the  Maryland  instructions  were  read  to 
Congress,  her  legislature  passed  an  act  directing  the  opening 
of  a  land-office  the  ensuing  October,  and  fixing  the  terms  on 
which  lands  should  be  sold  ;  and,  about  the  same  time,  a  sec- 
ond act,  regulating  the  land-patents  issued  by  royal  authority 
to  the  Virginia  officers  and  troops  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War.  The  meaning  of  the  two  acts  was  unmistakable  :  Vir- 
ginia proposed  to  disregard  the  growing  sentiment  in  favor 
of  endowing  the  United  States  with  the  Western  lands.  To 
her  surprise  she  immediately  called  into  activity  a  power  that 
had  been  sleeping  since  the  beginning  of  the  war ;  the  range 
of  •  controversy  was  at  once  widened,  and  the  way  to  agree- 
ment prepared  by  increasing  the  confusion. 

On  September  14,  1779,  a  memorial  signed  by  George 
Morgan  in  behalf  of  certain  land  claimants,  was  read  in 
Congress.  This  memorial  recited  :  That  at  the  Indian  Con- 
gress held  at  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768,  in  consideration  of  the 
loss  of  some  .£85,000  sustained  by  certain  traders,  the  Six 
Nations  granted  a  tract  of  land,  lying  on  the  southern  side 
of  the  Ohio  between  the  southern  limit  of  Pennsylvania  and 
the  Little  Kanawha  River,  called  Indiana ;  that  afterward,  but 
before  the  war  began,  this  tract  of  land,  as  included  within 
the  bounds  of  a  larger  tract  called  Vandalia,  was  by  the  King 
in  Council  separated  from  the  dominion  which,  in  right  of  the 
Crown,  Virginia  claimed  over  it ;  that,  as  the  memorialists 
are  advised,  the  said  tract  is  not  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
Virginia  or  any  particular  State,  but  of  the  United  States; 
and  that  the  action  of  Virginia  directing  the  sale  of  the  lands 
in  question  seems  intended  to  defeat  the  interposition  of  Con- 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  213 

gress.  Hence,  the  memorialists  pray  Congress  to  take  such 
speedy  action  as  shall  arrest  the  sale  of  the  lands  until  Vir- 
ginia and  the  memorialists  can  be  heard  by  Congress,  and  the 
rights  of  the  owners  of  the  tract  called  Vandalia,  of  which 
Indiana  is  a  part,  shall  be  ascertained,  in  such  a  manner  as  may 
tend  to  support  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  and  the 
just  rights  of  individuals.  A  memorial-  signed  by  William 
Trent,  in  behalf  of  Thomas  Walpole  and  his  associates  in  the 
Grand  Company,  was  presented  at  the  same  time.'  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  both  the  Carolinas 
voted  against  the  motion  to  refer  the  Morgan  memorial  to  a 
committee,  but  the  motion  prevailed.  Messrs.  Witherspoon, 
Jenifer,  Atlee,  Sherman,  and  Peabody,  on  October  8th,  were 
appointed  said  committee.  The  Trent  memorial  had  the 
same  reference.  It  should  be  observed  that,  when  the  me- 
morials were  introduced,  the  Virginia  delegates  objected  that 
Congress  had  no  jurisdiction  over  their  subject-matter.  The 
committee  was  also  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  foundation 
of  this  objection,  and  first  to  report  the  facts  relating  to  that 
point.  This  action  is  evidence  that  Congress  was  prepared  at 
least  to  inquire  whether  the  Nation  had  any  title  to  lands 
in  the  West. 

On  October  29,  1779,  the  committee  reported  that  they 
had  considered  the  facts  presented  to  them  by  the  Virginia 
delegates ;  and  that  they  "  could  not  find  any  such  distinc- 
tion between  the  question  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress 
and  the  merits  of  the  cause  as  to  recommend  any  decision 
upon  the  first  separately  from  the  last."  The  next  day  a  pre- 
amble and  resolution  offered  by  the  Maryland  delegates,  but 
somewhat  amended,  was  adopted  as  follows  : 

"Whereas,  the  appropriation  of  vacant  lands  by  the  several 
states  during  the  continuance  of  the  war  will,  in  the  opinion  of 
Congress,  be  attended  with  great  mischiefs  ;  therefore, 

1  The  Morgan  memorial  is  found  in  the  Journals  of  Congress,  III.,  359.     The 
Trent  memorial  is  not  found  in  the  Journals  at  alL 


214  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  the  State  of 
Virginia  to  reconsider  their  late  act  of  assembly  for  opening 
their  land  office  ;  and  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  said  State, 
and  all  other  States,  similarly  circumstanced,  to  forbear  set- 
tling or  issuing  warrants  for  unappropriated  lands,  or  granting 
the  same  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war."  ' 

Virginia  and  North  Carolina  are  the  only  States  that 
voted  in  the  negative,  but  New  York  was  divided.  This 
action  at  once  shifted  the  onus  from  Maryland  to  Virginia. 
The  Old  Dominion  was  now  compelled  to  speak.  On  Decem- 
ber 14,  1779,  her  legislature  addressed  to  the  delegates  of  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled  a  "  remonstrance "  of 
which  these  are  the  leading  points  :  (i)  That  Virginia  has  al- 
ready enacted  a  law  to  prevent  further  settlements  on  the 
northwest  banks  of  the  Ohio  River ;  (2)  That  Virginia  learns 
with  surprise  and  concern  that  Congress  has  received  and 
countenanced  petitions  from  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  Com- 
panies asserting  claims  to  lands  within  her  limits  as  claimed  ; 
and  that  for  Congress  to  assume  a  jurisdiction  and  right  of 
adjudication  such  as  granting  these  petitions  would  imply, 
would  be  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Con- 
federation, would  introduce  a  most  dangerous  precedent  which 
might  be  urged  to  deprive  one  or  more  of  the  States  of  terri- 
tory, or  subvert  its  sovereignty  and  government,  and  establish 
in  Congress  a  power  which  would  degenerate  into  an  intoler- 
able despotism  ;  (3)  that  there  are  many  other  land-companies 
than  those  that  have  already  petitioned  Congress,  claiming 
lands  in  the  West,  repugnant  to  Virginia's  laws ;  and  that 
listening  with  consideration  to  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  Com- 
panies will  encourage  these  to  bring  forward  their  claims ;  (4) 
Congress  have  stated  their  ultimatum  as  to  boundaries  in  their 
terms  of  peace  (in  the  instructions  to  Mr.  Adams,  mentioned 
in  a  previous  chapter).  "  The  United  States  hold  no  terri- 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  III.,  385. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  21$ 

tory  but  in  right  of  some  one  individual  State  in  the  Union ; 
the  territory  of  each  State  from  time  immemorial  hath  been 
fixed  and  determined  by  their  respective  charters,  there  being 
no  other  rule  or  criterion  to  judge  by."  The  setting  aside  of 
this  rule  will  end  in  bloodshed  among  the  States.  "  Nor  can 
any  argument  be  fairly  urged  to  prove  that  any  particular 
tract  of  country  within  the  limits  claimed  by  Congress  on  be- 
half of  the  United  States,  not  part  of  the  chartered  territory 
of  some  one  of  them,  but  must  militate  with  equal  force 
against  the  right  of  the  United  States  in  general ;  and  tend 
to  prove  that  tract  of  country  (if  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River)  part  of  the  British  Province  of  Canada;  "  (5)  the  limits 
of  Virginia  are  defined  in  her  constitution  of  1776;  (6)  Vir- 
ginia is  ready  to  listen  to  any  just  and  reasonable  proposition 
for  removing  the  ostensible  causes  of  delay  to  the  complete  rat- 
ification of  the  Confederation — referring,  of  course,  to  Mary- 
land. Virginia  is  now  ready,  as  she  has  before  declared  herself 
ready,  to  furnish  lands  northwest  of  the  Ohio  to  the  troops 
on  the  continental  establishment  of  such  of  the  States  as  have 
not  unappropriated  lands  for  that  purpose  ;  but  she  solemnly 
"protests  against  any  jurisdiction  or  right  of  adjudication  in 
Congress  upon  the  petitions  of  the  Vandalia  or  Indiana 
Companies,  or  any  other  matter  or  thing  subversive  of  the 
internal  policy,  civil  government,  or  sovereignty  of  this  or 
any  other  of  the  United  American  States,  as  unwarranted  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.1 

Firm  as  is  the  tone  of  the  remonstrance,  it  is  plain  that 
Virginia  is  becoming  more  yielding  and  pliable. 

Particular  attention  should  be  drawn  to  the  bearing  of  the 
question  with  which  we  are  dealing  on  the  national  boun- 
daries. Virginia  states  the  point  with  great  force  in  her  re- 
monstrance ;  and  it  is  perfectly  clear,  in  the  light  of  the  facts 
already  presented,  that  a  denial  of  the  Western  titles  on 
the  ground  that  the  Western  lands  belonged  to  the  Crown, 

1  Hening's  Statutes  of  Virginia,  X. 


2l6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tended  to  subvert  the  very  foundation  on  which  Congress 
instructed  its  foreign  representatives  to  stand  while  contend- 
ing with  England,  France,  and  Spain  for  a  westward  extension 
to  the  Mississippi.  Accordingly,  the  Maryland  doctrine  was 
a  dangerous  one ;  it  left  no  standing  ground  on  which  to  con- 
tend for  the  Western  country  but  that  of  conquest  and  occu- 
pancy. But  Congress  Wisely  kept  wide  of  the  Maryland  path 
leading  to  the  Maryland  goal,  and  eventually  worked  out  a 
solution  of  the  Western  question  on  the  principle  of  com- 
promise and  concession. 

The  first  practical  step  toward  a  solution  of  the  question 
was  taken  by  the  State  of  New  York.  On  January  17,  1780, 
her  legislature  passed  an  "  Act  for  facilitating  the  completion 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union  among 
the  United  States  of  America."  After  reciting  the  desirabil- 
ity of  a  more  perfect  Union,  the  dissatisfaction  of  some  States 
with  the  Articles,  growing  out  of  the  waste  lands,  and  the  de- 
sire of  New  York  to  accelerate  the  Union  by  removing,  as  far 
as  possible,  this  impediment,  the  legislature  provides:  (i) 
That  the  delegates  of  the  State  in  Congress,  or  the  majority 
of  them,  are  authorized  and  empowered,  in  behalf  of  the  State, 
to  limit  and  restrict  its  boundaries  in  the  western  parts  by 
such  line  or  lines,  and  in  such  manner  and  form,  as  they  shall 
judge  to  be  expedient,  with  respect  either  to  the  jurisdiction 
or  the  right  of  soil,  or  both ;  (2)  that  the  territory  so  ceded 
shall  be  and  inure  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the 
United  States  as  shall  become  members  of  the  federal  alli- 
ance of  the  said  States,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  what- 
ever ;  (3)  that  such  of  the  lands,  so  ceded,  as  shall  remain 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State,  shall  be  surveyed,  laid 
out,  and  disposed  of  only  as  Congress  may  direct. 

Virtually  this  act  was  the  first  of  the  cessions.  It  imme- 
diately changed  the  whole  situation.  Henceforth,  the  claim- 
ant states  were  compelled  to  justify  themselves  to  Congress 
and  the  country  for  not  following  New  York's  example. 
Moreover,  the  act  is  remarkable  for  the  large  powers  with 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  217 

which  it  clothed  the  New  York  delegates  in  Congress,  mak- 
ing them  the  sole  judges  whether  the  boundaries  of  the  State 
should  be  restricted,  and,  if  so,  what  should  be  the  manner 
and  the  extent  of  the  restriction.  This  act  was  the  result  of  a 
growing  conviction  that  the  Western  country  ought  not  to  be- 
long solely  to  the  seven  claimant  States,  and  of  the  growth  of 
national  ideas.  Professor  Adams  seeks  to  prove  that  it  was 
the  distinct  result  of  Maryland's  influence,  and  his  argument, 
whether  wholly  conclusive  or  not,  contains  some  valuable 
information,  chiefly  drawn  from  a  letter  written  by  General 
Philip  Schuyler,  then  a  delegate  in  Congress,  to  the  New 
York  Legislature,  that  immediately  preceded  the  Facilitating 
Act.1 

On  September  6,  1780,  a  committee  to  whom  all  the 
documents  in  relation  to  the  subject,  accumulated  on  the 
table,  had  been  referred,  submitted  a  report  on  which  the 
final  issue  turned. 

"  That  having  duly  considered  the  several  matters  to  them 
submitted,  they  conceive  it  unnecessary  to  examine  into  the 
merits  or  policy  of  the  instructions  or  declaration  of  the  gener- 
al assembly  of  Maryland,  or  of  the  remonstrance  of  the  gener- 
al assembly  of  Virginia,  as  they  involve  questions,  a  discussion 
of  which  was  declined,  on  mature  consideration,  when  the  ar- 
ticles of  confederation  were  debated  ;  nor,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
committee,  can  such  questions  be  now  revived  with  any  pros- 
pect of  conciliation  :  That  it  appears  more  advisable,  to  press 
upon  those  states  which  can  remove  the  embarrassments  re- 
specting the  western  country,  a  liberal  surrender  of  a  portion 
of  their  territorial  claims,  since  they  cannot  be  preserved  entire 
without  endangering  the  stability  of  the  general  confederacy  ; 
to  remind  them  how  indispensably  necessary  it  is  to  establish 
the  federal  union  on  a  fixed  and  permanent  basis,  and  on  prin- 
ciples acceptable  to  all  its  respective  members  ;  how  essential 
to  public  credit  and  confidence,  to  the  support  of  the  army,  to 

1  Maryland's  Influence  upon  Land  Cessions  to  the  United  States,  30  et  seq. 


2l8  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  vigor  of  our  councils,  and  success  of  our  measures,  to  our 
tranquillity  at  home,  our  reputation  abroad,  to  our  very  exist- 
ence as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  people  ;  that  they  are 
fully  persuaded  the  wisdom  of  the  respective  legislatures  will 
lead  them  to  a  full  and  impartial  consideration  of  a  subject  so 
interesting  to  the  United  States,  and  so  necessary  to  the  happy 
establishment  of  the  federal  union  ;  that  they  are  confirmed  in 
these  expectations  by  a  review  of  the  before-mentioned  act  of 
the  legislature  of  New  York,  submitted  to  their  consideration  ; 
that  this  act  is  expressly  calculated  to  accelerate  the  federal  al- 
liance by  removing,  as  far  as  depends  on  that  state,  the  impedi- 
ment arising  from  the  western  country,  and  for  that  purpose  to 
yield  up  a  portion  of  territorial  claim  for  the  general  benefit ; 

11  Resolved^  That  copies  of  the  several  papers  referred  to  the 
committee  be  transmitted,  with  a  copy  of  the  report,  to  the  leg- 
islatures of  the  several  states  ;  and  that  it  be  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  these  states  who  have  claims  to  the  western  country 
to  pass  such  laws,  and  give  their  delegates  in  Congress  such 
powers,  as  may  effectually  remove  the  only  obstacle  to  a  final 
ratification  of  the  articles  of  confederation  :  and  that  the  legis- 
lature of  Maryland  be  earnestly  requested  to  authorize  their 
delegates  in  Congress  to  subscribe  the  articles." ' 

This  report  was  agreed  to  without  call  of  the  roll.  Its 
adoption  marks  a  memorable  day  in  the  history  of  the  land- 
controversy.  No  other  document  extant  shows  so  clearly  the 
wise  policy  that  Congress  adopted.  That  policy  was  neither 
to  affirm  nor  to  deny,  nor  even  to  discuss,  whether  Congress 
had  jurisdiction  over  the  wild  lands,  but  to  ask  for  cessions 
and  to  trust  the  logic  of  events  to  work  out  the  issue.  The  ap- 
peal made  to  Maryland  was  one  that  she  could  not  well  refuse 
to  heed.  And  then,  that  nothing  but  selfish  interest  might 
stand  in  the  way  of  the  other  claimant  States  following  the 
example  of  New  York,  Congress  adopted,  October  loth,  this 
further  resolution : 

journals  of  Congress,  III.,  516,  517. 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  219 

"Resolved,  That  the  unappropriated  lands  that  may  be  ceded 
or  relinquished  to  the  United  States,  by  any  particular  state, 
pursuant  to  the  recommendation  of  Congress  of  the  sixth  day 
of  September  last,  shall  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit 
of  the  United  States,  and  be  settled  and  formed  into  distinct 
republican  states,  which  shall  become  members  of  the  federal 
union,  and  have  the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom  and 
independence  as  the  other  states  :  That  each  state  which  shall 
be  so  formed  shall  have  a  suitable  extent  of  territory,  not  less 
than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
square,  as  near  thereto  as  circumstances  will  admit :  That  the 
necessary  and  reasonable  expenses  which  any  particular  state 
shall  have  incurred  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  war, 
in  subduing  any  British  posts,  or  in  maintaining  forts  or  garri- 
sons within  and  for  the  defence,  or  in  acquiring  any  part  of 
the  territory  that  may  be  ceded  or  relinquished  to  the  United 
States,  shall  be  reimbursed  ; 

That  the  said  lands  shall  be  granted  or  settled  at  such  times 
and  under  such  regulations  as  shall  hereafter  be  agreed  on  by 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  or  any  nine  or  more 
of  them."  i 

The  offer  to  reimburse  the  reasonable  expenses  that  any 
State  had  incurred  in  subduing  any  British  posts,  etc.,  was,  in 
substance,  a  proposition  to  reimburse  Virginia  for  the  cost  of 
the  George  Rogers  Clark  expedition. 

The  papers  sent  to  the  claimant  States  under  the  resolu- 
tion of  September  6th  called  out  immediate  responses.  Con- 
necticut replied  by  a  legislative  act,  October  loth,  offering  a 
cession  of  lands  within  her  charter-limits,  west  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  purchase  and  east  of  the  Mississippi,  on  condition 
that  the  State  retain  the  jurisdiction,  the  quantity  of  land  so 
ceded  to  be  "  in  just  proportion  of  what  shall  be  ceded  and  re- 
linquished by  the  other  States  claiming  and  holding  vacant 
lands  as  aforesaid  with  the  quantity  of  such  their  claim  un- 

1  The  Journals  of  Congress,  IIL,  585. 


220  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

appropriated  at  the  time  when  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  was  first  convened  and  held  at  Philadelphia."  The 
preamble  of  this  act  explains  that  its  enactment  was  due  to 
the  anxiety  of  the  State  to  promote  the  liberty  and  indepen- 
dence of  "  this  rising  empire." 

Virginia  was  the  next  State  to  respond.  On  January  2, 
1781,  her  legislature  resolved  to  yield  to  Congress,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  United  States,  all  the  right,  title,  and  claim 
which  Virginia  had  to  the  lands  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio, 
upon  eight  conditions.  The  seventh  of  these  conditions  was, 
that  all  purchases  and  deeds  from  any  Indian  or  Indians,  for 
any  lands  within  the  cession  made  for  the  use  of  any  private 
person  or  persons,  as  well  as  grants  inconsistent  with  the 
chartered  rights  of  Virginia,  should  be  deemed  and  declared 
absolutely  void,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  said  territory 
had  still  remained  part  of  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia. 
The  last  condition  was  that  all  the  remaining  territory  of  Vir- 
ginia, enclosed  between  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  southeast 
side  of  the  River  Ohio,  and  the  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and 
North  Carolina  boundaries,  should  be  guaranteed  to  Virginia 
by  the  United  States.  Plainly,  these  two  conditions,  if  agreed 
to,  would  involve  a  declaration  of  the  validity  of  Virginia's 
claim  to  the  Northwest,  and  a  ruling  out  of  the  claims  of 
New  York,  if  not  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  and  so 
be  a  departure  from  the  policy  that  Congress  had  thus  far 
pursued.1  In  the  year  or  more  that  elapsed  before  Congress 
replied  to  this  overture,  some  very  important  things  were 
done.  H 

On  February  2,  1781,  the  Maryland  Legislature  empow- 
ered the  Maryland  delegates  in  Congress  to  subscribe  and 
ratify  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  preamble  of  the 
act  recites  the  reasons  why  the  circle  of  the  Confederation 
should  be  closed,  and  declares  the  devotion  of  Maryland,  to 
the  common  cause.  The  act  also  declares  that  the  State 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  IV.,  265,  266. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  221 

does  not,  by  acceding  to  the  Confederation,  relinquish  any 
right  or  interest  that  she  had,  with  the  other  States,  in  the 
back  country.  She  still  stands  on  the  declaration  of  1778; 
but  she  relies  on  the  justice  of  the  States  hereafter  as  to  the 
said  claim.  Further,  she  says  no  Article  in  the  Confederation 
can  bind  Maryland,  or  any  other  State,  to  guarantee  any  ex- 
clusive claim  of  any  particular  State  to  the  soil  of  the  back 
lands.  This  act  was  read  in  Congress  on  the  I2th  of  the  same 
month,1  and  preparations  were  made  for  the  immediate  con- 
summation of  the  Confederation. 

Messrs.  Duane,  Floyd,  and  McDougal,  the  New  York  dele- 
gates, now  prepared  a  deed  of  limitation,  in  the  name  of  the 
State,  ceding  to  the  United  States  all  her  right,  title,  interest, 
jurisdiction,  and  claim  to  all  lands  and  territories  northward  of 
the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  north  latitude  and  westward  of  a 
meridian  line  drawn  through  the  western  bent  or  inclination 
of  Lake  Ontario,  or  Avestward  of  a  meridian  line  twenty  miles 
west  of  the  most  westerly  bent  of  the  Niagara  River, 
provided  the  former  meridian  should  not  be  found  to  fall 
that  distance  beyond  said  river.  At  the  same  time,  the  New 
York  delegates  prepared  another  paper,  that  they  named  an 
"actor  declaration,"  calling  attention  to  the  guarantee  that 
Virginia  demanded  for  the  territory  that  she  did  not  cede ; 
asserting  that  it  was  unjust  to  ask  New  York  to  guarantee  the 
territories  that  other  States  making  cessions  reserved,  at  the 
same  time  that  she  was  herself  making  large  cessions  of  lands 
and  receiving  no  guarantee  for  those  she  did  not  cede ;  and 
declaring,  therefore,  that  the  deed  of  cession  was  not  absolute, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  should  be  subject  to  ratification  or  dis- 
avowal by  the  people  of  the  State,  represented  in  the  legis- 
lature, at  their  pleasure,  unless  the  territories  reserved  for 
the  future  jurisdiction  of  New  York  should  be  guaranteed  by 
the  United  States  in  the  same  manner  as  the  territories  of 
other  States  making  cessions  of  lands  were  guaranteed. 

1  See  Journals  of  Congress,  under  that  date. 


222  THE    OLD    NORTHWEST. 

On  March  i,  1781,  two  important  transactions  were  con* 
summated.  Messrs.  Duane,  Floyd,  and  McDougal  exe- 
cuted, in  the  name  of  New  York,  the  deed  of  limitation  and 
the  "  act  or  declaration ;  "  and  John  Hanson  and  Daniel  Car- 
roll, delegates  in  behalf  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  signed  and 
ratified  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  "  by  which  act  [so  runs 
the  "  Journal "]  the  Confederation  of  the  United  States  of 
America  was  completed,  each  and  every  of  the  Thirteen 
United  States,  from  New  Hampshire  to  Georgia,  both  in- 
cluded, having  adopted  and  confirmed,  and  by  their  delegates 
in  Congress  ratified  the  same."  Congress  had  anticipated  this 
auspicious  event  by  providing  that  the  completion  of  the  Con- 
federation should  be  announced  to  the  public  at  noon  of  that 
day ;  that  the  Boards  of  War  and  of  Admiralty  should  take 
order  accordingly ;  that  information  be  communicated  to  the 
executives  of  the  several  States  ;  that  the  American  ministers 
abroad  be  informed,  and  that  they  be  instructed  to  notify  the 
respective  courts  at  which  they  resided ;  that  information  be 
given  to  the  honorable  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  France ; 
that  information  be  transmitted  to  the  commander-in-chief, 
and  that  he  announce  the  same  to  the  army  under  his  com- 
mand. We  now  note  a  change  in  the  style  of  the  "  Journals 
of  Congress."  On  and  after  March  2,  1781,  the  style  is,  "  The 
United  States  in  Congress  Assembled." 

That  Maryland  had  not  theoretically  abandoned  her  old 
ground  is  proved  by  the  Act  of  February  2,  1781;  that  she 
had  not  abandoned  it  practically,  is  proved  by  the  history 
thus  far  recited.  The  Connecticut  and  Virginia  cessions  were 
far  from  satisfactory  either  to  Maryland  or  to  Congress,  but 
they  were  an  earnest  of  what  might,  in  time,  be  looked  for. 
The  resolutions  of  September  and  October,  1780,  proved  con- 
clusively the  drift  of  national  sentiment.  The  New  York 
cession  arrayed  that  great  State  on  the  side  of  the  small 
States,  and  was  an  example  that  the  other  claimant  States 
could  not  long  refuse  to  follow.  So  much  had  been  gained 
that  Maryland  could  well  afford  to  close  the  circle  of  the  Con- 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  223 

federation,  "relying  on  the  justice  of  the  several  States  here- 
after "  to  dedicate  the  Western  lands  to  the  Nation.  The  com- 
pletion of  the  Confederation  took  away  the  great  argument 
hitherto  relied  upon  in  favor  of  the  limitation-policy;  and 
henceforth,  the  strong  appeal  addressed  to  the  claimant  States 
is  the  needs  of  the  treasury. 

In  a  recent  article,  Professor  Alexander  Johnston  says  the 
provision  of  the  national  Constitution  "  for  the  admission  of 
new  States  was  the  result  of  State  experience  only.  All  the 
States  had  experienced  the  British  system  of  treating  colonies 
as  mere  creatures  of  an  omnipotent  Parliament ;  and  they  had 
been  determined  that  their  territories  should  be  treated  in  a 
different  way,  as  inchoate  States.  The  Constitution's  provi- 
sion had  its  origin  in  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation.  It 
is  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  not  to  the  Convention  of  that 
year,  that  we  must  look  for  the  conception  of  this  powerful 
factor  in  our  peculiar  national  development ;  and  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Confederation  took  it,  not  from  creative  genius, 
but  from  the  natural  growth  of  State  feeling." '  There  is,  in- 
deed, a  wide  difference  between  dependent  colonies  and  in- 
dependent States.  Mr.  Bancroft's  felicitous  chapter,  "  The 
Colonial  System  of  the  United  States,"  does  not  bear  a  felici- 
tous name.  Professor  Johnston's  praise  of  this  feature  of  the 
Constitution  is  well  deserved ;  but  its  ultimate  source  is  the 
"  pioneer  thought "  of  Maryland,  which  antedates  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  by  ten  years.  However,  nothing  is  said  of 
new  States  in  either  the  New  York  Facilitating  Act  or  the 
New  York  Deed  of  Limitation;  the  only  arguments  upon 
which  those  documents  rest  are  the  desirability  of  closing  the 
Confederation  and  the  justice  of  distributing  the  lands  among 
the  States. 

1  The  New  Princeton  Review,  September,  1887,  184. 


XIII. 
THE  NORTHWESTERN  CESSIONS.— (II.) 

ON  January  31,  1781,  the  resolution  of  October  10,  1780, 
together  with  the  accumulated  acts  and  resolutions  of  the 
States  of  Connecticut,  New  York,  and  Virginia,  had  been  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Witherspoon, 
Duane,  Root,  Adams,  Sullivan,  Burke,  and  Walton.  The  pe- 
titions of  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  Land  Companies,  as  well 
as  of  two  other  companies. that  had  memorialized  Congress  con- 
cerning their  claims,  were  also  referred  to  the  same  committee. 
Ultimately  this  committee,  and  another  one  that  came  in  its 
room,  became  a  sort  of  clearing  house  to  which  all  troublesome 
questions  that  in  any  way  touched  the  land-issue  were  sent. 
One  of  the  first  questions  that  it  had  to  deal  with,  as  well  as 
one  of  the  most  difficult,  was  the  guarantee  demanded  by  Vir- 
ginia as  the  condition  of  ceding  the  country  beyond  the  Ohio. 
We  must  see  what  such  a  guarantee  really  involved. 

First,  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia 
Companies  lay  on  the  southeastern  side  of  the  Ohio.  Sec- 
ondly, the  State  of  New  York,  before  her  deed  of  cession, 
claimed  the  whole  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  Thirdly,  it  was  held 
by  some,  irrespective  of  the  claims  of  the  company  and  of 
New  York,  that  the  Crown  had  limited  Virginia  on  the  west 
by  the  Alleghanies,  and  that  her  claim  to  what  is  now  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  was  spurious.  Hence  the  committee 
was  compelled  to  -inquire  into  the  merits  of  the  case  as  be- 
tween the  companies  and  New  York  on  the  one  part  and 
Virginia  on  the  other,  unless,  indeed,  Congress  should  either 


THE  NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  22$ 

give  or  rufuse  the  guarantee  without  any  inquiry  whatever. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  question  had  been  touched  by 
the  report  of  October  29,  1779,  when  it  declared  that,  in  the 
matter  of  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  claims,  it  could  "  not  find 
any  such  distinction  between  the  question  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  Congress  and  the  merits  of  the  cause  as  to  recommend  any 
decision  upon  the  first  separately  from  the  last."  In  the  light 
of  these  facts,  the  motive  of  Virginia  in  asking  a  guarantee  of 
her  whole  territorial  claim  east  and  south  of  the  Ohio  River  is 
obvious.  Evidently,  Congress  must  waive  the  Virginia  cession 
altogether,  or  it  must  inquire  whether  part  of  the  territories 
to  be  guaranteed  did  not  belong  to  the  land-companies,  as  also 
whether  a  still  larger  part  of  them  had  not  already  been  ceded 
to  the  United  States  by  New  York. 

Accordingly,  the  committee  of  seven  called  on  the  Con- 
necticut, New  York,  and  Virginia  delegates  in  Congress,  as 
well  as  the  agents  of  the  four  land-companies,  to  present  their 
respective  claims,  with  the  proofs  on  which  they  rested  them. 
On  October  16,  1781,  the  Virginia  delegates  submitted  to 
Congress  a  representation  urging  that  such  an  inquiry  as  was 
contemplated  into  the  claims  of  companies  claiming  lands  with- 
in the  limits  of  particular  States  was  beyond  its  jurisdiction, 
and  asking  whether  Congress  had  intended  that  the  committee 
should  hear  evidence,  in  behalf  of  the  companies,  that  was  ad- 
verse to  the  claims  or  cessions  of  Virginia,  New  York,  or 
Connecticut.  The  paper  declared  it  derogatory  to  the  sover- 
eignty of  a  State,  thus  to  be  drawn  into  contest  with  a  land- 
company.1  On  the  26th  of  the  same  month  the  Virginia 
delegates  brought  up  the  question  again,  this  time  seeking 
to  carry  a  motion  denying  to  the  committee  the  right  "  to  ad- 
mit counsel,  or  to  hear  documents,  proofs,  or  evidence  not 
among  the  records,  nor  on  the  files  of  Congress,  which  have 
not  been  specially  referred  to  them."  This  was  all  in  har- 

1  The  citations  to  proceedings  in  Congress  are  now  found  in  the  Journals  of 
Congress,  under  the  respective  dates,  unless  otherwise  indicated. 
15 


226  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

mony  with  the  Virginia  remonstrance  of  two  years  before. 
But  Congress  persisted,  voting  down  the  motion  of  Octo- 
ber 26th,  five  votes  to  three;  and  on  November  3,  1781,  the 
committee  submitted  an  elaborate  report  covering  the  whole 
ground.  In  the  first  paragraph  of  this  very  important  docu- 
ment, the  committee  state  that  the  New  York  and  Connecti- 
cut delegates  had  submitted  the  claims  of  their  States,  with 
vouchers  to  support  the  same,  but  that  the  Virginia  delegates, 
"  declining  any  elucidation  of  their  claim,  either  to  the  lands 
ceded  in  the  act  referred  to  your  [the]  committee,  or  the  lands 
requested  to  be  guaranteed  to  the  said  State  by  Congress, 
delivered  to  your  [the]  committee  the  written  paper  hereto 
annexed  and  numbered  20." 1  This  paper  is  not  printed  in 
the  "  Journals,"  but  the  original  is  found  among  the  unpub- 
lished papers  of  Congress.  It  is  signed  by  the  Virginia  dele- 
gates, including  Mr.  Madison,  and  is  a  statement  of  the  reasons 
why  they  refused  to  present  the  grounds  of  the  Virginia  claim 
to  the  committee.  This  is  the  most  important : 

"  The  acts  of  Congress  in  compliance  with  which  the  above 
mentioned  cessions  [viz.,  those  of  New  York,  Connecticut,  and 
Virginia]  were  made,  are  founded  on  the  supposed  inexpedi- 
ency of  discussing  the  question  of  right,  and  recommended  to 
the  several  states  having  territorial  claims  in  the  western  coun- 
try, a  liberal  surrender  of  a  portion  of  these  claims  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  United  States,  as  the  most  advisable  means  of  remov- 
ing the  embarrassments  which  such  questions  created.  To  make 
these  acts  of  surrender,  then,  the  basis  of  a  discussion  of  terri- 
torial rights,  is  a  direct  contravention  of  the  acts  of  Congress, 
and  tends  to  diminish  the  weight  and  efficacy  of  future  rec- 
ommendations from  them  to  their  constituents."8 


1  This  report  is  found  in  the  Journals  under  the  date  of  May  I,  1782.     Messrs. 
Boudinot,  Varnum,  Jenifer,  Smith,  and  Livermore  are  here  given  as  constituting 
the  committee.     I  have  not  found  any  mention,  in  the  Journals,  of  a  second  com- 
mittee being  appointed. 

2  See  argument  of  Samuel  F.   Vinton   in  case  of  Virginia  vs.  Garner  and 
others,  Marietta,  O.,  1846. 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  227 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  for  Congress  to  conduct  an  in- 
quiry into  the  grounds  of  title  by  which  any  State  held,  or 
claimed  to  hold,  her  territories  was  a  departure  from  the 
policy  hitherto  pursued ;  nor  that  Virginia,  in  asking  for  the 
guarantee,  had  presented  sufficient  occasion  for  the  departure 
to  be  made.  In  view  of  the  outcome,  it  is  plain  that  Virginia 
made  a  false  step  when  she  asked  for  the  guarantee.  But  the 
conclusions  reached  by  the  committee  were  still  more  distaste- 
ful to  Virginia  than  the  inquiry  itself,  as  we  shall  now  see. 

The  report  made,  November  3,  1781,  came  up  for  action, 
May  i,  1782.  First,  it  recommended  the  acceptance  of  the 
New  York  cession  as  contained  in  the  deed  executed  by 
Messrs.  Duane,  Floyd,  and  McDougal,  March  I,  1781.  The 
reasons  that  induced  the  committee  to  recommend  the  ac- 
ceptance of  this  cession  are  an  important  part  of  the  literature 
relating  to  the  ownership  of  the  Western  lands.  These  were 
fully  presented,  with  remarks,  in  the  statement  of  the  North- 
western claims  made  in  the  last  chapter.  The  additional 
observation  is  called  for  that,  at  this  distance,  the  New  York 
claim  appears  the  most  flimsy  of  all  the  Western  claims  ;  and 
it  is  hard  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  it  was  preferred  by  the 
committee  from  a  desire  to  get  a  leverage  on  the  other  States, 
and  particularly  on  Virginia.  This  view  is  supported  by  the 
general  history  of  the  subject,  by  the  composition  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  by  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Madison,  soon  to  be  ad- 
duced. The  five  men  who  composed  the  committee  were 
Boudinot  of  New  Jersey,  Varnum  of  Rhode  Island,  Jenifer 
of  Maryland,  Smith  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Livermore  of  New 
Hampshire. 

The  report  strongly  urged  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
to  make  an  immediate  release  of  all  their  claims  and  preten- 
sions to  the  Western  territories,  without  condition  or  reserva- 
tion. Not  a  word  was  said  about  the  conditional  cession  that 
Connecticut  had  already  made. 

Coming  to  the  cession  proffered  by  Virginia,  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  it  was  not  consistent  with  the  interest  of 


\ 


228  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

the  United  States,  the  duty  that  Congress  owed  to  their  con- 
stituents, or  the  rights  necessarily  vested  in  Congress  as  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  United  States,  to  accept  the  said  ces- 
sion, or  to  guarantee  the  tract  of  country  claimed  by  Virginia 
southeast  of  the  Ohio ;  assigning  the  following  reasons  for 
this  conclusion : 

"  i.  It  appeared  to  your  committee  from  the  vouchers  laid 
before  them,  that  all  the  lands  ceded,  or  pretended  to  be  ceded, 
to  the  United  States  by  the  state  of  Virginia,  are  within  the 
claims  of  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New 
York,  being  part  of  the  lands  belonging  to  the  said  Six  Nations 
of  Indians  and  their  tributaries. 

"  2.  It  appeared  that  great  part  of  the  lands  claimed  by  the 
state  of  Virginia,  and  requested  to  be  guaranteed  to  them  by 
Congress,  is  also  within  the  claim  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
being  also  a  part  of  the  country  of  the  said  Six  Nations  and 
their  tributaries. 

"  3.  It  also  appeared  that  a  large  part  of  the  lands  last  afore- 
said are  to  the  westward  of  the  west  boundary  line  of  the  late 
colony  of  Virginia,,  as  established  by  the  King  of  Great  Britain, 
in  Council,  previous  to  the  present  revolution. 

"4.  It  appeared  that  a  large  tract  of  said  lands  hath  been 
legally  and  equitably  sold  and  conveyed  away  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Great  Britain  before  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence by  persons  claiming  the  absolute  property  thereof. 

"5.  It  appeared  that  in  the  year  1763,  a  very  large  part 
thereof  was  separated  and  appointed  for  a  distinct  government 
and  colony  by  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  knowledge 
and  approbation  of  the  government  of  Virginia. 

"  6.  The  conditions  annexed  to  the  said  cession  are  incom- 
patible with  the  honor,  interests,  and  peace  of  the  United  States, 
and  therefore,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  altogether  in- 
admissible." 

These  reasons,  together  with  those  given  for  adopting  the 
resolution  accepting  the  New  York  cession,  totally  deny  the 
validity  of  Virginia's  claim  to  territory  west  of  the  mountains, 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS. 

and  fully  affirm  the  sufficiency  of  New  York's  title.  Still,  to 
put  an  end  to  all  questions,  the  committee  recommended  the 
following  resolution  : 

"  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  the  state  of  Virginia, 
as  they  value  the  peace,  welfare  and  increase  of  the  United 
States,  that  they  re-consider  their  said  act  of  cession,  and  by  a 
proper  act  for  that  purpose,  cede  to  the  United  States  all 
claims  and  pretensions  of  claim  to  the  lands  and  country  be- 
yond a  reasonable  western  boundary,  consistent  with  their 
former  acts  while  a  colony  under  the  power  of  Great  Britain, 
and  agreeable  to  their  just  rights  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  at 
the  commencement  of  the  present  war,  and  that  free  from  any 
conditions  and  restrictions  whatever." 

The  committee  further  reported  that  the  Indiana  claim 
was  a  bonafide  claim,  made  in  the  usual  way  ;  and  it  therefore 
recommended  that,  in  case  the  said  lands  were  finally  ceded 
to  the  United  States  by  Great  Britain,  Congress  should  con- 
firm to  such  of  the  purchasers  as  were  citizens  of  the  United 
States  their  respective  shares  and  proportions  of  such  lands. 

After  reciting  the  facts  relating  to  the  Vandalia  grant, 
the  committee  declared  it  wholly  incompatible  with  the  in- 
terests of  the  United  States  to  permit  such  inordinate  grants 
of  lands  to  be  vested  in  individual  citizens  of  the  States ; 
nevertheless,  in  order  to  do  strictest  justice  to  such  of  the  said 
company  as  should  remain  citizens  of  the  United  States,  it 
recommended  that,  in  case  the  tract  should  finally  be  ad- 
judged to  the  United  States,  Congress  should  make  reason- 
able provision  for  them  out  of  the  lands. 

The  committee  recommended,  further,  that  the  claims  of 
the  Illinois  and  Wabash  Companies  be  dismissed,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  originally  illegal. 

Finally,  the  committee  declared  that  many  inconveniences 
would  arise  unless  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress  in  regard  to 
Indian  affairs  was  more  clearly  defined,  and  so  submitted  a 
number  of  resolutions  intended  to  accomplish  that  end. 


230  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

This  report  was  never  acted  upon  as  a  whole  ;  and  to  fol- 
low it  through  the  "  Journals  "  is  a  wearisome  undertaking, 
especially  as  the  land-issue  soon  becomes  complicated  with 
other  subjects,  as  the  national  finances. 

As  early  as  1776,  attention  was  drawn  to  the  Northwest- 
ern lands  "  as  a  resource  amply  adequate,  under  proper  regu- 
lations, for  defraying  the  whole  expense  of  the  war."  '  Now 
that  the  Confederation  had  been  completed,  and  the  financial 
embarrassments  of  the  country  were  becoming  greater  and 
greater,  the  eyes  of  the  people  and  of  Congress  were  more  and 
more  turning  to  the  Northwest  to  find  the  means  of  relief. 
On  July  31,  1782,  a  grand  committee  of  one  from  each  State, 
appointed  to  consider  and  report  the  most  effective  means  of 
supporting  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  recommended 
Congress  to  decide  upon  the  cessions  made  by  Connecticut, 
New  York,  and  Virginia.  "  It  is  their  opinion,"  say  the  com- 
mittee, "  that  the  Western  lands,  if  ceded  to  the  United  States, 
might  contribute  toward  a  fund  for  paying  the  debt  of  these 
States."  As  a  substitute  for  this  part  of  the  report,  Mr. 
Witherspoon  offered  a  series  of  resolutions  asserting  that  such 
cessions,  if  made  agreeably  to  the  resolutions  of  1780,  "  would 
be  an  important  fund  for  the  discharge  of  the  national  debt," 
and  strongly  urging  them  upon  the  claimant  States.  For 
some  reason  these  resolutions,  as  well  as  the  foregoing  item 
of  the  report,  were  lost ;  but  the  phrase  "  national  debt  " 
shows  that  the  national  idea  was  growing. 

Replying,  January  30,  1783,  to  the  complaints  of  Pennsyl- 
vania that  she  could  not  procure  payments  of  money  due  her 
from  the  Federal  Government,  Congress  called  attention  to 
the  steps  taken  to  secure  the  Western  cessions,  begging  Penn- 
sylvania to  consider  the  subject  "  as  of  importance,  not  only 
as  may  affect  the  public  credit,  but  as  it  will  contribute  to 

1  Silas  Deane  :  See  Adams's  Maryland's  Influence  upon  Land  Cessions   to 
the  United  States,  22. 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  IV. ,  68,  69  ;  82,  83. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  231 

give  general  satisfaction  to  the  members  of  the  Union."  On 
April  1 8th  the  subject  came  up  again  as  a  part  of  the  well- 
known  financial  scheme  of  that  year,  as  will  soon  be  pointed 
out  more  at  length. 

Next  to  the  "  Journals  of  Congress,"  the  "  Madison 
Papers "  and  Mr.  Madison's  reports  of  the  debates  in  Con- 
gress, found  in  "  Eliot's  Debates,"  are  the  principal  sources  of 
information  concerning  the  land-cessions.  Mr.  Madison  was 
in  Congress  in  1780,  1781,  1782;  and  his  letters  to  his  Vir- 
ginia correspondents  in  those  years  throw  a  flood  of  light  on 
the  whole  subject,  making  clear  the  motives  that  governed 
the  Virginia  delegates,  revealing  hidden  springs  of  action,  and 
showing  conclusively  that  politics  played  a  large  part  in  those 
transactions. 

Writing  to  Edmund  Pendleton,  September  12,  1780,  of  the 
resolution  of  Congress  adopted  six  days  before,  he  expresses 
the  sanguine  belief  that  the  States  to  which  that  appeal  is 
made  "  will  see  the  necessity  of  closing  the  union  in  too 
strong  a  light  to  oppose  the  only  expedient  that  can  ac- 
complish it."1  To  Joseph  Jones,  September  iQth,  October 
I9th,  and  November  2ist  of  the  same  year,  he  suggests  that 
the  States  making  cessions  can  shut  off  the  land-companies, 
called  by  him  "  land-mongers,"  by  expressly  excluding  them 
from  all  participation  in  the  lands  ceded  ;  he  does  not  believe 
there  is  any  design  in  Congress  to  gratify  the  avidity  of  land- 
mongers,  but  the  best  security  for  their  virtue  in  this  respect 
will  be  to  keep  it  out  of  their  power ;  and  declares  a  prop- 
osition to  arbitrate  the  issue  between  the  Indiana  Company 
and  Virginia,  submitted  by  Morgan,  irreconcilable  with  the 
honor  and  sovereignty  of  the  State.  Writing  to  Jones,  Novem- 
ber 28th,  he  thus  touches  the  Connecticut  cession  :  "They 
reserve  the  jurisdiction  to  themselves,  and  clog  the  cession 
with  some  other  conditions  which  greatly  depreciate  it,  and 

1  Unless  otherwise  designated,  the  citations  from  Madison  are  from  the  Mad- 
ison Papers.      See  the  respective  dates. 


232  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

are  the  more  extraordinary  as  their  title  to  the  land  is  so  con- 
trovertible  a  one."  December  I9th,  he  expresses  to  Jones 
regret  that  the  Virginia  Assembly  has  not  acted  on  the  con- 
gressional recommendation,  because  the  delay  will  tend  to 
postpone  Maryland's  ratification  of  the  Confederation.  To 
Edmund  Randolph  he  writes,  May  I,  1781,  that  the  attempt 
to  secure  the  acceptance  of  the  Virginia  cession  "  has  pro- 
duced all  the  perplexing  and  dilatory  objections  which  its 
adversaries  could  devise."  He  declares  to  Randolph,  October 
3Oth  of  the  same  year,  that  "an  agrarian  law  is  as  much 
coveted  by  the  little  members  of  the  Union  as  ever  it  was  by 
the  indigent  citizens  of  Rome  ;  "  he  cherishes  "  little  hope  of 
arresting  any  aggression  upon  Virginia  which  depends  solely 
on  the  inclination  of  Congress ;"  he  thinks  the  rule  requiring 
seven  States  to  carry  a  vote  will  be  a  check  on  the  "  agrarians," 
but  in  another  letter  he  speaks  of  the  same  rule  as  retarding 
business.  November  I3th,  he  tells  Pendleton  that  the  Vir- 
ginia cession  will  not  "be  adopted  with  the  conditions  an- 
nexed to  it ; "  and  then  states  the  programme  of  the  opposi- 
tion as  follows : 

"  The  opinion  seems  to  be,  that  an  acceptance  of  the  ces- 
sion of  New  York  will  give  Congress  a  title  which  will  be 
maintainable  against  all  the  other  claimants.  In  this,  however, 
they  will  certainly  be  deceived  ;  and  even  if  it  were  otherwise, 
it  would  be  their  true  interest,  as  well  as  conformable  to  the 
plan  on  which  the  cessions  were  recommended,  to  bury  all 
further  contentions  by  covering  the  territory  with  the  titles  of 
as  many  of  the  claimants  as  possible." 

In  a  letter  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  November  18,  1781,  Mad- 
ison writes  of  the  "  hostile  machinations  of  some  of  the  States 
against  our  territorial  claims ; "  says  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, made  November  3,  1781,  "  is  not  founded  on  the  ob- 
noxious doctrine  of  an  inherent  right  in  the  United  States  to 
the  territory  in  question,  but  on  the  expediency  of  clothing 
them  with  the  title  of  New  York,  which  is  supposed  to  be 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  233 

maintainable  against  all  others ;  "  utters  the  opinion  that  the 
principles  of  the  report  will  not  be  ratified  by  Congress ;  and 
adds  that  the  committee  was  composed  of  a  member  each 
1  from  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island, 
and  New  Hampshire,  "  all  of  which  States,  except  the  last, 
are  systematically  and  notoriously  adverse  to  the  claims  of 
Western  territory,  and  particularly  those  of  Virginia."  In 
this,  as  in  others  of  his  letters,  Mr.  Madison  expresses  the 
fear  that  the  Virginia  Assembly  will  become  offended  at  the 
unreasonable  course  pursued  by  Congress,  and  so  refuse  fur- 
ther help  to  end  the  controversy.  He  says,  also,  that  the  in- 
vestigation made  by  the  committee  of  the  rights  of  States 
and  companies  was  vindicated  on  the  ground  that  the  condi- 
tions annexed  by  Virginia  to  the  cession  made  it  necessary. 
In  a  second  letter  to  Jefferson,  bearing  date,  January  15,  1782, 
he  reviews  the  history  of  the  cessions  to  date.  He  speaks 
again  of  the  "  machinations  "  against  Virginia,  and  of  the  per- 
severance with  which  her  territorial  rights  are  "  persecuted  ;  " 
he  says  an  accurate  and  full  collection  of  the  documents  bear- 
ing on  Virginia's  title  would  be  of  great  service  to  the  Vir- 
ginia delegation,  and  calls  upon  Mr.  Jefferson  to  investigate 
the  whole  subject  frqm  the  original  charter  down.  Writing  to 
Mr.  Jefferson  again,  April  i6th,  he  describes  the  line  of  at- 
tack on  the  Virginia  title.  The  adversaries  of  the  State  will 
be  either  the  United  States  or  New  York,  or  both.  "  The 
former  will  either  claim  on  the  principle  that  the  vacant  coun- 
try is  not  included  in  any  particular  State,  and  consequently 
falls  to  the  whole,  or  will  clothe  themselves  with  the  title  of 
the  latter  by  accepting  its  cession."  He  again  calls  on  his 
distinguished  correspondent  to  trace  the  title  of  Virginia  to 
the  disputed  lands. 

In  a  letter  to  Randolph,  of  August  13,  1782,  he  says 
"  several  of  the  Middle  States  seem  to  be  facing  about." 
Maryland,  however,  "  preserves  its  wonted  jealousy  and  ob- 
stinacy." In  another  letter  to  Randolph  he  discusses  the 
financial  bearings  of  the  land-question  in  reference  to  a  recent 


234  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

debate  in  Congress,  and  states  the  circumstances  leading  to 
the  Witherspoon  resolutions  already  cited. 

"  After  the  usual  discussion  of  the  question  of  right,  and  a 
proposal  of  opposite  amendments  to  make  the  report  favor  the 
opposite  sides,  a  turn  was  given  to  the  debate  to  the  question 
of  expediency,  in  which  it  became  pretty  evident  to  all  parties, 
that  unless  a  compromise  took  place  no  advantage  would  ever 
be  derived  to  the  United  States,  even  if  their  right  were  ever 
so  valid.  The  number  of  States  interested  in  the  opposite  doc- 
trines rendered  it  impossible  for  the  title  of  the  United  States 
ever  to  obtain  a  vote  of  Congress  in  its  favor,  much  less  any  coer- 
cive measure  to  render  the  title  of  any  fiscal  importance  ;  whilst 
the  individual  States,  having  both  the  will  and  the  means  to 
avail  themselves  of  their  pretensions,  might  open  their  land 
offices,  issue  their  patents,  and,  if  necessary,  protect  the  execu- 
tion of  their  grants,  without  any  other  molestation  than  the 
clamors  of  individuals  within  and  without  the  doors  of  Con- 
gress. This  view  of  the  case  had  a  manifest  effect  on  the  tem- 
perate advocates  of  the  Federal  title.  .  .  . 

"  Every  review  I  take  of  the  western  territory  produces 
fresh  conviction  that  it  is  the  true  policy  of  Virginia,  as  well 
as  of  the  United  States,  to  bring  the  dispute  to  a  friendly  com- 
promise. A  separate  government  cannot  be  distant,  and  will 
be  an  insuperable  barrier  to  subsequent  profits.  If,  therefore, 
the  decision  of  the  state  on  the  claims  of  companies  can  be 
saved,  I  hope  her  other  conditions  will  be  relaxed." 

He  means,  no  doubt,  that  Virginia  shall  drop  her  demand 
for  a  guarantee. 

Replying,  March  24,  1782,  to  Madison's  loud  calls  for  help, 
Mr.  Jefferson  expresses  surprise  at  the  plan  to  set  up  New 
York's  claim  against  Virginia's.  Previous  to  the  receipt  of 
Madison's  letter,  he  had  never  been  able  to  comprehend  a 
ground  on  which  Virginia's  right  could  be  denied  that  "would 
not  at  the  same  time  subvert  the  right  of  all  the  States  to 
the  whole  of  their  territory."  He  confesses  his  inability  to 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  235 

add  anything  to  the  argument  on  the  Virginia  side,  and 
ventures  the  opinion  that,  if  the  decision  of  Congress  is  un- 
favorable to  Virginia,  it  will  not  close  the  question ;  and 
supposes  that  men  on  the  Western  waters  who  are  ambitious 
of  office  will  urge  a  separation  of  the  West  by  authority  of 
Congress.  Neither  Mr.  Madison's  correspondents  nor  Mr. 
Madison  himself  ever  suggested  any  standing  ground  for  Vir- 
ginia other  than  the  charter  of  the  colony. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Madison's  correspondence  for 
the  information  that  the  Western  issue  hinged  on  another 
famous  question  of  those  days.  This  is  the  question  of  the 
admission  of  Vermont  to  the  Union,  that  has  already  been 
treated  in  another  place.  This  issue  became  involved  with 
the  land-question  as  early  as  1781.  On  August  I4th  of  that 
year,  Mr.  Madison  predicted  the  speedy  triumph  of  Vermont, 
assigning  this  as  one  of  his  reasons  :  "  The  jealous  policy  of 
some  of  the  little  states  which  hope  that  such  a  precedent 
may  engender  a  division  of  some  of  the  large  ones."  Under 
date  of  May  I,  1782 — the  very  day  that  the  report  of  1781 
was  taken  up — Mr.  Madison  committed  to  writing  some 
noteworthy  "  observations  relating  to  the  influence  of  Ver- 
mont and  the  Territorial  Claims  on  the  politics  of  Congress." 

The  New  England  States,  with  the  exception  of  New 
Hampshire,  patronize  the  independence  of  Vermont  from  an- 
cient hostility  to  New  York,  from  the  interest  of  their  citi- 
zens in  Vermont  lands,  but  principally  from  the  accession  of 
weight  this  will  give  that  section  in  Congress.  Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland  also  patronize  the  pretensions  of  Vermont,  as 
do  New  Jersey  and  Delaware ;  the  first  two,  "  with  the  sole 
view  of  reinforcing  the  opposition  to  claims  of  Western  terri- 
tory, particularly  those  of  Virginia ; "  the  other  two,  "  with  the 
additional  view  of  strengthening  the  interests  of  the  little 
states."  Rhode  Island  is  also  influenced  by  these  considera- 
tions, as  well  as  by  those  that  influence  the  other  New  Eng- 
land States.  New  York  opposes  Vermont  for  obvious  rea- 
sons. Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia  oppose  Vermont 


236  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

on  four  grounds :  A  habitual  jealousy  of  Eastern  predomi- 
nance ;  the  opposition  that  it  is  expected  Vermont,  if  admitted, 
will  oppose  to  Western  claims  ;  the  inexpediency  of  admitting 
so  small  a  State  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  first  members 
of  the  Union  ;  the  tendency  of  the  example  to  bring  about  a 
premature  dismemberment  of  the  other  States. 

It  is  plain  that  the  admission  of  Vermont  under  the  cir- 
cumstances would  be  a  sort  of  premium  on  rebellion,  and 
might  encourage  the  Virginians  west  of  the  mountains  to 
revolution.  Mr.  Madison  then  defines  the  motives  from 
which  the  States  act  on  the  other  question.  Of  those  that 
oppose  the  Western  claims,  Rhode  Island  is  influenced  by  a 
desire  to  share  the  lands  as  a  revenue-fund,  and  by  the  envy 
excited  by  superior  resources  and  importance;  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland  are  influenced  by  these 
considerations,  but  more  by  the  intrigues  of  their  citizens  who 
are  interested  in  the  land-companies.  The  peculiar  hostility 
of  these  States  to  Virginia  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  claims 
of  the  companies  lie  within  the  limits  of  Virginia.  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Maryland  would  oppose  Vermont,  only  their  allies 
in  the  Western  combination  require  them  to  favor  her ;  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut  thwart  the  settlement  of  the 
Western  question  until  the  admission  of  Vermont  is  made 
sure.  With  these  States,  Vermont  is  first  and  the  lands  sec- 
ond ;  with  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  the  lands  are  first  and 
Vermont  second.  No  direct  interest  in  the  lands  is  accorded 
to  Massachusetts,  and  but  a  slight  one  to  Connecticut.  New 
York,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia  all  have  Western 
claims  in  which  they  take  an  interest ;  South  Carolina  least 
of  all.  New  York's  claim  is  very  extensive,  but  her  title 
is  very  flimsy.  She  urges  it,  expecting  to  obtain  some  ad- 
vantage or  credit  by  its  cession  rather  than  hoping  to  main- 
tain it. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  cession-policy  was  actually 
attended  by  some  dangers  that  do  not  appear  on  the  surface 
of  the  subject.  On  the  one  hand,  the  cessions  tended  to 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  237 

strengthen  the  Union  by  conciliating  the  non-claimant  States ; 
on  the  other,  they  tended,  or  at  least  might  tend,  to  engender 
dangerous  divisive  tendencies.  Discussing  the  admission  of 
Vermont,  in  a  letter  dated  September  19,  1780,  Mr.  Madison 
says  :  "  For  my  own  part,  if  a  final  decision  must  take  place, 
I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  made  on  prin- 
ciples that  will  effectually  discountenance  the  erection  of 
new  governments  without  the  sanction  of  proper  authority, 
and  in  a  style  marking  a  due  firmness  and  decision  in  Con- 
gress." 

Again,  November  19,  1782,  he  writes  that  he  has  seen  a 
letter  from  General  Irvine,  then  at  Fort  Pitt,  "  which  displays 
in  full  colors  the  avidity  of  the  Western  people  for  the  vacant 
lands  and  for  separate  governments."  Mr.  Jefferson's  corre- 
spondence bears  a  similar  testimony.  The  over-mountain  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina,  in  defiance  both  of  the  parent  State 
and  of  Congress,  actually  sought  to  set  up  the  State  of  Frank- 
lin. And  this  divisive  tendency  was  no  doubt  a  fact  to  be 
considered  by  cautious  statesmen. 

Having  let  in  this  side-light  on  the  stage,  we  are  ready  to 
follow  the  movement  of  the  scenes. 

On  motion  of  the  Maryland  delegation,  October  29,  1782, 
Congress  accepted  the  New  York  cession  as  defined  in  the 
deed  executed,  March  I,  1781,  Virginia  alone  voting  in  the 
negative.  November  5th,  Mr.  Madison  explained  to  Mr. 
Randolph  the  reasons  that  led  to  this  negative  vote  :  "  In  the 
first  place,  such  a  measure,  instead  of  terminating  all  contro- 
versy— the  object  proposed  by  the  original  plan — introduces 
new  perplexities ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  an  assent  from  us 
might  be  hereafter  pleaded  as  a  voluntary  acceptance  of  the 
United  States  in  the  room  of  New  York  as  a  litigant  against 
Virginia."  The  acceptance  of  the  New  York  cession,  how- 
ever, did  not  include  the  approval  of  the  reasons  given  by  the 
committee  of  1781  for  its  recommendations.  This  was  a  fort- 
unate circumstance,  as  it  proved,  for  the  way  was  thus  left 
open  for  the  compromise  finally  made.  At  the  same  time, 


238  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  acceptance  of  the  New  York  cession  was  understood  to 
be  a  decisive  defeat  of  Virginia.  Some  members  of  Congress 
expected  never  again  to  hear  of  Virginia's  land-claims.  Such 
was  the  consummation  of  the  long  and  determined  effort 
made  by  Virginia  to  secure  the  acceptance  by  Congress  of  her 
cession  with  the  guarantee.  After  this,  the  final  success  of 
the  cession-policy  was  only  a  question  of  time. 

In  the  letter  to  Randolph  last  cited,  Mr.  Madison  recounts 
the  action  of  October  2Qth,  and  points  out  its  bearings. 
"  The  success  of  the  Middle  States  in  obtaining  the  cession 
of  New  York  has  given  great  encouragement,  and  they  are 
pursuing  steadily  the  means  of  availing  themselves  of  the 
other  titles.  That  of  Connecticut  is  proposed  for  the  next 
object.  Virginia  will  be  postponed  for  the  last.  By  enlisting 
the  two  preceding  into  their  party,  they  hope  to  render  their 
measures  more  effectual  with  respect  to  the  last."  He  says 
the  "  coalition  "  of  the  Middle  States  with  New  York  will  hurt 
the  pretensions  of  Vermont.  New  York,  "  by  ceding  a  claim 
which  was  tenable  neither  by  force  nor  by  right,"  "  has  ac- 
quired with  Congress  the  merit  of  liberality,  rendered  the 
title  to  her  reservation  more  respectable,  and  at  least  damped 
the  ardor  with  which  Vermont  has  been  abetted." 

The  lands  again  came  to  the  front  in  connection  with  the 
national  finances. 

In  a  note  to  his  report  of  the  debate  of  February  26,  1783, 
on  the  famous  revenue-plan  of  that  year,  Mr.  Madison  defines 
the  position  of  the  States  with  reference  thereto.  New 
Hampshire  would  approve  of  a  share  in  the  vacant  territory. 
Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland  are  deeply  interested  in  the  lands.  New  York, 
since  the  acceptance  of  her  cession,  is  interested  in  those  of 
other  States.  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia  must  make 
larger  or  smaller  sacrifices  of  territory.  Massachusetts,  so 
far  as  appears,  has  no  interest  in  the  question.  Connecticut 
may,  perhaps,  consider  herself  interested  in  the  acquisition  of 
the  vacant  lands  "  since  the  condemnation  of  her  title  to  her 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  239 

Western  claims," '  the  reference  being,  of  course,  to  the  refusal 
to  accept  her  cession. 

On  April  9,  1783,  a  memorial  praying  Congress  to  grant  a 
tract  of  land  on  Lake  Erie  to  the  Canadian  refugees  who  had 
engaged  in  the  cause  of  the  United  States  led  to  a  protracted 
discussion  of  the  land-question.  On  the  i8th  of  the  same 
month  the  revenue-plan  was  adopted,  containing  the  follow- 
ing recommendation  : 

"That  as  a  further  means,  as  well  of  hastening  the  ex- 
tinguishment of  the  debts  as  of  establishing  the  harmony  of 
the  United  States,  it  be  recommended  to  the  states  which  have 
passed  no  acts  towards  complying  with  the  resolutions  of  Con- 
gress of  the  6th  of  September  and  loth  of  October,  1780,  rela- 
tive to  the  cession  of  territorial  claims,  to  make  the  liberal  ces- 
sions therein  recommended,  and  to  the  states  which  may  have 
passed  acts  complying  with  the  said  resolutions  in  part  only,  to 
revise  and  complete  such  compliance." 

Mr.  Madison's  reports  of  these  discussions  contain  no  argu- 
ments with  which  we  are  not  already  familiar. 

Many  members  of  Congress  supposed  that  this  recom- 
mendation was  a  finality ;  they  thought  that,  with  the  accept- 
ance of  the  New  York  cession,  it  sealed  the  fate  of  Virginia's 
Western  claims.  But  the  delegates  from  that  State  appar- 
ently had  not  given  up  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  acceptance  of 
the  Virginia  cession.  At  least,  Mr.  Bland  made  a  motion  to 
accept  it,  and  the  motion  was  referred  to  a  committee.  This 
committee  reported,  June  9,  1783,  that  action  should  be  post- 
poned until  Congress  had  proceeded  to  a  determination  on 
the  report  of  November  3,  1781.  Accordingly,  Congress  re- 
sumed the  consideration  of  that  report,  and  so  much  of  it  as 
related  to  the  Virginia  cession  was  referred  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Rutledge,  Ellsworth,  Bedford,  Gorham, 
and  Madison.  This  reference  alarmed  the  States  that  had  so 

1  Eliot's  Debates,  V.,  59,  60. 


240  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

unflaggingly  opposed  the  pretensions  of  Virginia,  and  that 
supposed  the  acceptance  of  the  New  York  cession  and  the 
finance  scheme  meant  the  limitation  of  Virginia's  claim  on 
the  west  by  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  They  feared  that  the 
reference  meant  a  reopening  of  the  whole  question,  and  pos- 
sibly a  backing  down  from  the  position  taken,  April  i8th. 
This  view  of  the  case  is  well  put  in  a  vigorous  remonstrance 
that  New  Jersey  sent  to  Congress,  June  2Oth,  expressing  sur- 
prise at  the  reopening  of  the  question ;  applying  the  recom- 
mendation of  April  1 8th  expressly  to  Virginia,  whose  cession 
is  declared  "partial,  unjust,  and  illiberal,"  and  requesting 
Congress  not  to  accept  that  cession  but  to  press  Virginia  "  to 
make  a  more  liberal  surrender  of  that  territory  of  which  they 
claim  so  boundless  a  proportion."  The  same  day  the  report 
of  the  Rutledge  Committee  was  considered.  This  report, 
after  being  under  discussion  for  three  months,  was  finally 
adopted,  September  13,  1783.  Mr.  Madison  thinks  this  report, 
when  first  offered,  "a  fit  basis  for  a  compromise,"  and  ex- 
presses the  hope,  when  it  is  finished,  that  it  will  meet  the  ul- 
timatum of  Virginia.1  How  well  grounded  his  view  was,  is 
shown  by  an  examination  of  the  report  itself,  and  by  the  sub- 
sequent history. 

The  report  states  the  eight  conditions  that  Virginia  an- 
nexed to  the  cession  of  January  2,  1781,  and  disposes  of  them 
one  by  one  ;  pointing  out  that  some  of  them  have  been  met 
already,  that  others  are  reasonable  and  should  be  met,  and 
that  some  are  unnecessary  because  they  are  covered  by  others. 
The  last  condition,  that  requiring  the  guarantee,  is  thus  dis- 
posed of : 

"  As  to  the  last  condition,  your  committee  are  of  opinion, 
that  Congress  cannot  agree  to  guarantee  to  the  commonwealth 
of  Virginia,  the  land  described  in  the  said  condition,  without 
entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  right  of  the  state  of  Virginia 

1  Madison  Papers,  543,  572. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  241 

to  the  said  land  ;  and  that  by  the  acts  of  Congress  it  appears 
to  have  been  their  intention,  which  the  committee  cannot  but 
approve,  to  avoid  all  discussion  of  the  territorial  rights  of  in- 
dividual states,  and  only  to  recommend  and  accept  a  cession 
of  their  claims  whatsoever  they  might  be,  to  vacant  territory. 
Your  committee  conceive  this  condition  of  a  guarantee,  to  be 
either  unnecessary  or  unreasonable  ;  inasmuch  as,  if  the  land 
above  mentioned  is  really  the  property  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
it  is  sufficiently  secured  by  the  Confederation,  and  if  it  is  not 
the  property  of  that  state,  there  is  no  reason  or  consideration 
for  such  guarantee." 

The  report  closes  with  a  recommendation  that,  if  the 
legislature  of  Virginia  make  a  cession  conformable  to  these 
views,  Congress  shall  accept  such  cession.  Maryland  and 
New  Jersey  alone  voted  in  the  negative. 

The  report  adopted,  September  18,  1783,  is  in  marked 
contrast  with  the  one  offered  November  3,  1781,  and  for  which, 
in  some  sense,  it  was  a  substitute.  Particularly  is  it  impossi- 
ble to  harmonize  what  is  said  of  the  guarantee  in  1783  with 
the  arguments  adduced  two  years  before  to  prove  the  validity 
of  the  New  York  claim  and  the  invalidity  of  the  Virginia 
claim.  The  one  document  gives  the  results  of  an  inquiry 
into  the  question  of  right ;  the  other  waives  such  inquiry  al- 
together, on  the  ground  that  it  is  the  settled  policy  of  Con- 
gress to  avoid  all  such  inquiries  and  discussions,  and  only  to 
recommend  the  cession  of  State  claims,  whatever  they  may 
be.  Evidently  a  change  had  come  over  the  temper  of  Con- 
gress. In  1781  the  policy  was  to  put  pressure  on  Virginia 
with  a  view  of  inducing  her  to  cede  the  territory  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio.  Hence  the  affirmation  of  New- 
York's  claim.  The  Union  was  to  be  clothed  with  New 
York's  title,  as  Mr.  Madison  states  in  his  letters.  Such  was 
the  plan  of  the  non-claimant  States  in  1781.  Time  has  told 
against  that  plan,  and  a  new  one  has  been  agreed  upon  as  a 
compromise.  Nothing  is  said  in  the  report  of  1783  about  the 
lands  southeast  of  the  Ohio ;  the  right  to  inquire  into  titles 
16 


242  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

is  denied  ;  Congress  can  only  recommend  cessions  and  accept 
them  when  made.  This  leaves  the  way  open  for  Virginia  to 
withdraw  her  demand  for  a  guarantee,  at  the  same  time  that 
she  renews  the  cession  of  the  Northwest.  As  the  reasons  of 
1781  have  never  been  adopted,  Congress  can  tacitly  assent  to 
the  southern  limitation  of  the  cessions  by  the  Ohio  River. 
This  will  leave  the  lands  within  the  present  States  of  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  in  Virginia's  possession,  which  is  ex- 
actly what  she  has  been  contending  for  from  the  first.  The 
details  of  this  plan  were  evidently  arranged  by  the  Rutledge 
Committee. 

Virginia  promptly  performed  the  part  assigned  her.  On 
October  20,  1783,  her  legislature  passed  an  act  authorizing  a 
cession  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio.  Before  stating 
the  terms  of  this  cession,  however,  we  must  attend  to  an  at- 
tempt that  was  made  to  break  up  the  compromise,  and  to 
wrest  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Indiana  Company  from  the 
grasp  of  Virginia. 

Alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  being  abandoned  by  Congress, 
Colonel  George  Morgan,  the  petitioner  of  three  years  before, 
in  behalf  of  himself  and  his  fellow-proprietors,  applied  to  New 
Jersey  for  protection,  of  which  State  some  of  them  were  citi- 
zens. He  proposed,  virtually,  that  the  State  should  adopt 
the  Indiana  Company's  claim  as  its  own,  at  least  to  the  ex- 
tent of  suing  for  an  investigation  of  the  title  by  a  Federal 
court.  The  legislature,  probably  in  the  hope  of  defeating  the 
compromise,  accepted  the  proposal,  and  appointed  Morgan  its 
agent  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  claim  before  Congress. 

In  his  petition,  dated  February  24th,  and  presented  in 
Congress,  March  I,  1784,  Morgan  recites  the  fact  of  his  ap- 
pointment, quotes  the  finding  of  the  committee  of  1781  con- 
cerning the  Indiana  Company,  says  Virginia  still  claims  the 
same  lands,  denies  the  validity  of  her  claim,  and  prays  for  a 
hearing  in  the  premises  agreeably  to  the  Ninth  Article  of  the 
Confederation.  A  motion  to  commit  was  lost,  as  was  a 
motion  for  a  committee  to  prepare  an  answer  to  New  Jersey. 


THE  NORTHWESTERN    CESSIONS.  243 

We  have  no  intimation  why  Congress  refused  this  applica- 
tion— possibly  because  it  did  not  consider  Article  IX.  as  cover- 
ing the  case.  Mr.  Madison,  in  one  of  his  letters,  says  he  does 
not  understand  the  policy  of  the  land-companies  in  opposing 
the  Virginia  compromise.  "  They  can  never  hope  for  specific 
restitution  of  their  claims ;  they  can  never  even  hope  for  a 
cession  of  the  country  between  the  Alleghany  and  the  Ohio 
by  Virginia ;  as  little  can  they  hope  for  an  extension  of  a 
jurisdiction  of  Congress  over  it  by  force.  I  should  suppose, 
therefore,  that  it  would  be  their  truest  interest  to  promote  a 
general  cession  of  the  vacant  country  to  Congress ;  and  in 
case  the  titles  of  which  they  have  been  stripped  should  be 
deemed  reasonable,  and  Congress  should  be  disposed  to  make 
any  equitable  compensation,  Virginia  would  be  no  more  in- 
terested in  opposing  it  than  the  other  states."  '  The  petition 
of  March  I,  1784,  is  the  last  that  we  hear  of  the  Indiana 
Company  in  the  Old  Congress. 

Having  thus  refused  to  do  anything  with  Morgan's  peti- 
tion, Congress  the  same  day  took  up  and  accepted  the  deed  of 
cession  that  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  colleagues  had  already  pre- 
sented in  behalf  of  Virginia.  After  reciting  the  resolutions 
of  Congress  of  1780,  the  Virginia  cession  of  1781,  and  the  re- 
port adopted  by  Congress,  September  13,  1783,  the  act  on 
which  the  deed  is  based  stipulates  that  "  the  territory  so  ceded 
shall  be  laid  out  and  formed  into  states,  containing  a  suitable 
extent  of  territory,  not  less  than  one  hundred  nor  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  square,  or  as  near  thereto  as  cir- 
cumstances will  admit,  and  that  the  states  so  formed  shall 
be  distinct  republican  states,  and  admitted  members  of  the 
Federal  Union,  having  the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom, 
and  independence  as  the  other  states  ; "  that  the  reasonable  ex- 
penses incurred  by  Virginia  in  subduing  and  garrisoning  any 
part  of  this  territory  shall  be  paid ;  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Kaskaskia,  Vincennes,  and  the  neighboring  French  vil- 

1  Madison  Papers,  543,  544. 


244  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

lages  who  have  become  citizens  of  Virginia  shall  have  their 
titles  confirmed  to  them  ;  that  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
acres  of  land  promised  by  Virginia  to  Clark  and  the  officers 
and  men  who  served  under  him  in  the  Northwest  shall  be 
granted  to  them  ;  that  in  case  certain  lands  reserved  for  the 
Virginia  troops  on  the  continental  establishment,  south  of  the 
Ohio  River  between  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  Rivers, 
should  "  prove  insufficient  for  their  legal  bounties,  the  defi- 
ciency shall  be  made  up  to  the  said  troops,  in  good  lands,  to 
be  laid  off  between  the  Rivers  Scioto  and  Little  Miami,  on 
the  northwest  side  of  the  River  Ohio ;  "  and  that  all  the 
lands  so  ceded,  not  reserved  for  any  of  the  enumerated  pur- 
poses, and  not  disposed  of  in  bounties  to  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers of  the  American  army,  shall  be  a  common  fund  for  the 
use,  aid,  and  benefit  of  the  members  of  the  Union,  present  or 
future,  Virginia  included,  "according  to  their  usual  respective 
proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,  and  shall 
be  faithfully  and  bona  fide  disposed  of  for  that  purpose,  and 
for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever."  The  cession  is  of 
"  all  right,  title,  and  claim,  as  well  of  soil  as  of  jurisdiction, 
which  the  said  commonwealth  hath  to  the  territory  or  tract  of 
country  within  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  charter,  situate,  lying, 
and  being  to  the  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio."  The  act  also 
expresses  the  hope  that  Congress,  in  justice  to  Virginia  for 
her  liberal  cession,  will  earnestly  press  upon  the  other  States 
claiming  large  bodies  of  waste  lands  to  make  cessions  equally 
liberal  for  the  common  benefit  and  support  of  the  Union. 

A  motion  to  add  to  the  resolution  accepting  the  deed 
the  proviso  that  its  acceptance  should  not  be  considered  as 
implying  any  opinion  or  decision  of  Congress  respecting  the 
extent  or  validity  of  the  claim  of  Virginia  to  Western  terri- 
tory, by  charter  or  otherwise,  received  the  votes  of  only  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  New  Jersey  alone  voted  against 
accepting  the  deed,  South  Carolina  was  divided,  Maryland 
was  not  present. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  long  struggle  between  Congress 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  245 

and  Virginia.  The  sole  question  at  issue  had  long  been  the 
territory  southeast  of  the  Ohio.  Virginia  demanded  a  guar- 
antee in  1781  as  a  reply  to  the  demand  that  she  should  be 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  mountains.  That  guarantee  was 
not  given,  and  yet  Virginia  won  a  substantial  victory.  Now 
that  the  demand  to  shut  her  up  between  the  sea  and  the  moun- 
tains was  pressed  with  less  vigor,  and  there  was  a  disposition 
to  recede  from  the  reasons  of  the  report  of  1781,  she  was  quite 
willing  to  let  the  guarantee  go,  and  accept  in  its  stead  a  tacit 
understanding  that  she  should  not  be  molested  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  back  lands.  By  this  time  the  dispute  had  become 
wearisome;  the  compromise  suggested  by  the  report  of  1783 
offered  a  practicable  settlement,  and  a  large  majority  of  Con- 
gress, as  the  votes  show,  were  very  glad  to  accept  that  compro- 
mise and  let  the  matter  drop.  The  controversy  with  Virginia 
was  considerably  affected  by  the  events  of  the  war.  Hildreth 
says  the  terror  inspired  by  Arnold's  approach  to  Richmond  was 
a  main  motive  with  Virginia  in  making  the  cession  of  1781.' 
After  the  peace  of  1783  Congress  was  less  disposed  to  press 
Virginia  to  make  a  more  liberal  cession,  and  Virginia  was  less 
disposed  to  yield.  Had  the  war  gone  on  a  year  or  two  longer 
— at  least,  had  Maryland's  ratification  of  the  Articles  been 
postponed  so  long — it  is  highly  probable  that  Virginia's  west- 
ern boundary  would  have  been  drawn  where  it  now  is,  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  rather  than  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War. 

In  the  course  of  the  long  discussion  about  the  West,  there 
was  a  considerable  fluctuation  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper 
number  and  size  of  the  new  States.  Virginia  was  the  only 
State  making  a  cession  which  stipulated  that  the  territory 
ceded  should  be  formed  into  States ;  and  she  imposed  a  rule 
of  division  that  would  have  given  anywhere  from  ten  to 
twenty  States  in  the  Northwest.  But  in  1788,  in  response  to 
a  representation  made  by  Congress  two  years  before,  that  such 

1  History,  III.,  399. 


246  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

division  would  "  be  productive  of  many  and  great  inconveni- 
ences," growing  out  of  geographical  conditions,  Virginia  con- 
sented to  such  a  modification  of  her  deed  and  cession  as 
would  admit  of  "  not  more  than  five  states  nor  less  than  three, 
as  the  situation  of  that  country  and  future  circumstances  may 
require."  This  was  simply  ratifying  Article  V.  of  the  com- 
pacts of  1787. 

The  two  States  making  largest  land-pretensions  had  now 
ceded  as  much  of  their  lands  as  they  proposed  to  cede.  Con- 
necticut and  Massachusetts  still  retained  their  claims  in  the 
Northwest,  and  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  theirs  in  the  South- 
west. It  was  confidently  expected,  however,  that  the  two  ces- 
sions Avould  bring  about  the  others  in  time.  From  this  point 
the  subject  is  less  prominent  in  the  national  councils,  is  less 
interesting,  and  can  be  more  rapidly  despatched. 

In  April,  1784,  Congress  again  called  attention  to  the 
Western  territory  as  an  important  financial  resource,  and  urged 
those  States  that  had  not  complied  with  the  recommendation 
of  September  6,  1780,  to  make  immediate  and  liberal  cessions. 
On  November  13,  1784,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
passed  an  act  authorizing  her  delegates  in  Congress  to  exe- 
cute a  deed  of  cession  of  such  part  of  the  tract  of  land  lying 
between  the  Hudson  River  and  the  Mississippi,  belonging  to 
the  State,  as  they  might  think  proper,  in  such  manner  and 
on  such  conditions  as  should  appear  to  them  most  suitable. 
On  April  19,  1785,  Samuel  Holton  and  Rufus  King,  delegates, 
executed  and  Congress  accepted,  such  deed,  conveying  and 
releasing  to  the  United  States  all  of  Massachusetts's  right 
and  title  to  lands,  both  soil  and  jurisdiction,  lying  within  the 
charter-limits  of  the  State,  west  of  a  meridian  line  drawn 
through  the  western  bent  or  inclination  of  Lake  Ontario,  pro- 
vided such  line  should  fall  twenty  miles  or  more  west  of  the 
western  limit  of  the  Niagara  River ;  and  if  not,  then  west  of 
the  meridian  falling  that  distance  west  of  said  river.  This  was 
adopting  the  New  York  line  of  four  years  before.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Massachusetts  then  claimed  nearly  all  West- 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  247 

ern  New  York.  The  New  York  and  Massachusetts  cessions 
did  not  in  any  way  touch  that  controversy.  It  was  finally 
settled  by  a  joint  commission  of  the  two  States  in  1786.  The 
meridian  marking  the  eastern  limit  of  the  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  cession,  which  is  also  the  western  boundary  of 
the  former  State  from  latitude  42°  to  Lake  Erie,  was  surveyed 
and  marked  in  1790. 

The  State  of  Connecticut,  by  an  act  of  May  n,  1786,  au- 
thorized "an  ample  deed  of  release  and  cession  of  all  the  right, 
title,  interest,  jurisdiction,  and  claim  of  Connecticut  to  certain 
western  lands,  beginning  at  the  completion  of  the  41°  of  north 
latitude,  120  miles  west  of  the  western  boundary  line  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  as  now  claimed  by  said  com- 
monwealth, and  from  thence  by  a  line  drawn  north,  parallel  to 
and  1 20  miles  west  of  the  said  west  line  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  continue  north  until  it  come  to  42°  2!  north  latitude."  The 
effect  of  this  cession,  if  adopted,  would  be  to  leave  in  the 
hands  of  Connecticut  that  part  of  her  original  claim  which  is 
bounded  north  by  the  international  boundary-line,  east  by 
Pennsylvania,  south  by  parallel  41°,  and  west  by  a  meridian 
line  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west  of  the  western  bound- 
ary of  Pennsylvania — the  Western  Reserve.  It  also  left  the 
controversy  between  New  York  and  Connecticut  as  to  the 
"  Gore  "  unsettled.  The  extent  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  east  and  west  was  given  to  the  reservation  because 
that  was  the  extent  of  the  Susquehanna  purchase  of  1754. 
The  acceptance  of  this  cession  was  strongly  opposed  in  Con- 
gress because  it  was  partial,  and  because  to  accept  it  would  be 
indorsing  the  charter  of  1662.  After  a  severe  struggle  it  was 
accepted,  May  26,  1786,  Maryland  alone  voting  in  the  nega- 
tive. Messrs.  Johnson  and  Sturgess  executed  the  deed  Sep- 
tember I4th,  following. 

Mr.  Grayson,  of  Virginia,  writing  to  Washington,  said  the 
result  of  the  Connecticut  reservation  was  a  clear  loss  of  about 
six  million  acres  of  land  to  the  United  States,  which  had  al- 
ready been  ceded  by  Virginia  and  New  York.  Connecticut, 


248  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 

he  said,  would  at  once  open  a  land-office  and  sell  the  lands. 
Grayson  then  states  the  reasons  urged  in  Congress  for  accept- 
ing the  cession : 

"  That  the  claim  of  a  powerful  State,  although  unsupported 
by  right,  was,  under  present  circumstances,  a  disagreeable 
thing  ;  that  sacrifices  must  be  made  for  the  public  tranquillity, 
as  well  as  to  acquire  an  indisputable  title  to  the  residue  ;  that 
Connecticut  would  settle  it  immediately  with  emigrants  well 
disposed  to  the  Union,  who  would  form  a  barrier,  not  only 
against  the  British  but  the  Indian  tribes  ;  and  that  the  thick 
settlement  they  would  immediately  form  would  enhance  the 
value  of  the  adjacent  country  and  facilitate  emigration  thereto." 

Washington  ascribed  the  acceptance  of  the  cession,  with 
the  reservation,  to  "  a  want  of  competent  knowledge  of  the 
Connecticut  claim  to  Western  lands."1  Grayson  can  be  ex- 
cused for  magnifying  three  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  acres  of  land  into  six  million,  as  the  geography  of 
the  Lake  Erie  region  was  not  then  carefully  known  ;  but  what 
shall  we  say  of  Mr.  Bancroft,  who  repeats  the  blunder  in  the 
last  edition  of  his  history ! " 

It  has  always  been  the  fashion  to  berate  Connecticut  for 
illiberality  in  making  her  cession.  No  State  came  through 
the  cession  controversy  with  less  credit.  This  feeling  is  hard 
to  explain.  Connecticut  was  more  tardy  than  New  York, 
Virginia,  and  Massachusetts,  but  she  was  much  more  prompt 
than  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  She  reserved  some  lands, 
but  so  did  all  the  other  ceding  States,  and  particularly  Vir- 
ginia, whose  course  at  the  time  provoked  much  more  ill-feel- 
ing. Her  charter  had  been  jumped  by  later  charters,  but  so 
had  those  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  The  lands  that  she 
retained  were  separated  from  her  home  territory ;  but  so 
were  those  that  Massachusetts  retained  in  Western  New 
York.  Of  course  she  had  not  the  reasonable  excuse  that 

1  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Washington,  IX.,  177,  178.  8  VL,  279,  280. 


THE  NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  249 

New  York  and  Virginia  had  ;  for  the  first  of  these  States 
wished  to  have  a  Lake  Erie  front,  and  the  second  desired  to 
be  brought  out  to  the  Ohio  River. 

The  Connecticut  cession  completed  the  national  title  to 
the  Northwest,  except  the  Connecticut  reservation.  The 
next  year  Congress  enacted  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  the 
civil  life  of  the  territory  began  in  1788.  At  that  time  the 
Southwest  attracted  less  attention  than  the  Northwest ;  the 
framing  of  the  Constitution  and  the  organization  of  the  gov- 
ernment under  it,  as  well  as  the  foreign  embarrassments  of 
the  government  coming  soon  after,  drew  more  and  more  of 
the  public  attention ;  and,  very  naturally,  the  subject  of  ces- 
sions fell  somewhat  into  the  background.  Moreover,  the 
Southwestern  cessions  were  delayed  and  complicated  by  do- 
mestic disturbances  and  by  foreign  troubles.  They  do  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  this  inquiry. 

This  history  shows  that  four  different  ideas  as  to  the  West- 
ern lands  were  first  and  last  suggested.  The  original  idea  of 
the  claimant  States  was  to  retain  them  for  their  own  exclu- 
sive use ;  and  for  a  time  the  other  States  seemed  to  acquiesce 
in  this  policy.  Secondly,  it  was  proposed  to  distribute  the 
lands  or  their  proceeds,  in  whole  or  in  part,  among  the  States, 
leaving  the  jurisdiction  in  the  hands  of  the  claimant  States. 
Connecticut  acted  on  this  idea  in  offering  her  first  cession. 
The  third  proposition  was  the  one  for  which  Maryland  con- 
tended so  long  and  valiantly,  viz.  :  That  Congress  should  as- 
sert the  sovereign  power  of  the  United  States  over  the  West- 
ern country  without  waiting  for  cessions.  Lastly  the  plan  of 
cession.  This  ultimately  reached  the  same  practical  end  that 
Maryland  proposed,  but  by  a  different  road.  Manifestly,  to 
persuade  the  claimant  States  to  cede  their  lands  to  the  Na- 
tion was  not  to  assert  a  national  title  to  them. 

But  the  lands  were  not,  and  could  not  be  fully  national- 
ized as  long  as  the  Confederation  lasted.  The  Articles  gave 
Congress  no  resources  except  those  that  came  from  the 
States ;  and  although  the  Nation  should  ultimately  receive 


250  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  proceeds  of  the  cessions,  it  could  receive  them  only  by 
way  of  the  States.  Accordingly,  the  deeds  made  to  the 
United  States  stipulated  that  the  lands,  or  their  proceeds, 
should  be  distributed  among  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  and 
this  was  the  principle  on  which  the  Land-Ordinance  of  1785, 
that  will  form  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter,  was  con- 
structed. When  the  Constitution  went  into  effect,  in  1789,  it 
fully  nationalized  the  public  domain. 

Unfortunately,  the  history  of  the  cessions  has  not  always 
been  so  presented  as  clearly  to  define  the  course  that  Con- 
gress pursued.  For  example,  Chief  Justice  Chase  speaks  of 
the  "  claim "  of  the  United  States,  which  rested  on  the 
ground  that  the  "  Western  lands  had  been  the  property  of 
the  Crown,  and  naturally  fell,  on  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence, to  the  opponent  of  the  former  sovereign."  He  thus 
balances  this  "  claim  "  against  the  claims  of  the  States  : 

"Of  these  various  claims,  that  of  the  United  States  seems 
to  have  been  the  most  rational  and  just.  The  charter  of  Vir- 
ginia had  been  vacated  by  a  judicial  proceeding ;  the  company 
to  which  it  was  granted  had  been  dissolved,  the  grant  itself  had 
been  resumed  by  the  Crown,  and  large  tracts  of  the  country 
included  by  its  original  limits  had  been  patented  to  various  in- 
dividuals and  associations,  without  remonstrance  on  the  part  of 
the  colony  of  Virginia.  The  expenses  incurred,  and  the  efforts 
made  by  Virginia,  in  the  reduction  of  the  British  posts,  and  in 
the  defence  and  protection  of  the  frontier,  created  a  just  claim 
upon  the  treasury  of  the  Union,  but  could  not,  of  themselves, 
confer  a  valid  title  to  the  Western  lands.  The  western  boun- 
dary of  Connecticut  had  been  so  clearly  defined  in  her  agree- 
ment with  New  York,  that  her  claims  to  territory  beyond  that 
line  could  not  be  entitled  to  much  consideration  ;  the  preten- 
tions  of  New  York  were  liable  to  easy  refutation  upon  an  ap- 
peal to  western  geography,  and  an  investigation  into  the  real 
extent  of  the  territory  of  the  Six  Nations  ;  and  the  claim  of 
Massachusetts  rested  upon  a  charter  granted  at  a  period  when 
the  territory  now  claimed  under  it  was  actually  possessed  and 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  2$ I 

occupied  by  France.  In  opposition  to  these  various  preten- 
tions,  the  Congress,  as  the  common  head  of  the  United  States, 
maintained  its  title  to  the  Western  lands  upon  the  solid  ground 
that  a  vacant  territory  wrested  from  the  common  enemy,  by  the 
united  arms,  and  at  the  joint  expense  of  all  the  States,  ought  of 
right  to  belong  to  Congress,  in  trust  for  the  common  use  and 
benefit  of  the  whole  union."  * 

Congress  never  maintained  a  national  "  claim "  on  this 
"  ground  "  or  on  any  other  ground.  The  argument  here 
stated  as  a  ground  of  title  was  often  urged  in  discussion  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  and  is  found  in  State  resolutions.  It  no 
doubt  had  a  material  effect  in  forming  the  opinion  of  the 
time,  but  it  cannot  be  found  in  a  single  act  or  resolution 
that  ever  passed  the  doors  of  Congress.  The  great  argu- 
ments advanced  by  Congress  in  its  appeals  for  cessions  were 
the  desirability  of  perfecting  the  Union,  the  need  of  harmony 
among  the  States,  and  the  necessities  of  the  treasury.  Effec- 
tive as  the  national  view  was,  Congress  kept  it  sedulously  in 
the  background,  and  constantly  acted  on  the  federal  theory 
of  the  national  territory.  The  Western  lands  came  to  the 
Nation  by  a  series  of  cessions  that  proceeded  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  the  States  making  them  ceded  something,  and 
that  Congress  received  something  in  accepting  them. 

The  longer  one  studies  the  land-question  of  the  Revolu- 
tion the  more  he  is  impressed  by  its  difficulty,  by  its  impor- 
tance, and  by  the  wisdom  and  self-restraint  that  marked  its 
settlement.  No  one  can  deny  that  the  young  republic  had  a 
happy  escape  from  what  might  easily  have  been  a  great  dis- 
aster. The  cessions  prevented  a  series  of  inevitable  contro- 
versies growing  out  of  conflicting  claims ;  and  we  may  well 
question  whether  the  machinery  provided  for  settling  such 
controversies  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation  was  adequate 
to  the  task  that  their  adjustment  would  have  entailed.  The 
cessions  satisfied  the  non-claimant  States,  and  so  removed 

1  Statutes  of  Ohio  :  Preliminary  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Ohio,  I.,  12,  13. 


252  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

jealousy  and  heart-burning.  They  tended  materially  to  na- 
tionalize the  government,  by  creating  the  public  domain  for 
Congress  to  control  and  to  prepare  for  future  republics. 
They  prepared  the  way  for  "  the  more  perfect  union  "  of  the 
Constitution.  Next  to  independence  and  union,  the  Western 
lands  were  the  most  important  question  that  the  old  Con- 
gress dealt  with  ;  and  no  small  part  of  their  importance  arose 
from  their  relation  to  independence  and  union. 

NOTE. — There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  value  of 
the  claims  and  titles  now  described,  and  therefore  as  to  the  value, 
in  a  legal  point  of  view,  of  the  cessions  growing  out  of  them. 
Sometimes  the  cessions  are  set  wholly  aside,  and  the  North- 
western titles  derived  immediately  from  the  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  in  1783.  An  example  of  this  procedure  may  be  found 
in  the  Report  of  the  Tenth  Census,  1880.  But  such  is  not  the 
procedure  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  The 
case  of  Hand  ley's  Lessee  vs.  Anthony  '  involved  the  question 
whether  a  certain  tract  of  land  on  the  Indiana  side  of  the  Ohio 
River,  that  was  an  island  at  high  water  and  a  peninsula  at  low 
water,  belonged  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Indiana  or  of  Kentucky, 
and  so  a  construction  of  the  language  found  in  the  Virginia  deed 
of  cession,  "  situate,  lying,  and  being  to  the  northwest  of  the 
River  Ohio."  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  delivering  the  opinion  of 
the  Court,  stated  the  question  to  be  whether  the  river  at  low- 
water  mark,  or  at  its  middle  state,  is  the  boundary  between  the 
States  of  Kentucky  and  Indiana.  He  said  two  cases  were  to 
be  considered.  When  a  great  river  forms  the  boundary  be- 
tween two  nations  or  states,  if  the  original  property  is  in  nei- 
ther, and  there  is  no  convention  respecting  it,  each  nation  holds 
to  the  middle  of  the  stream.  The  second  case  is  that  of  a 
state's  being  the  original  proprietor,  and  granting  the  terri- 
tory on  one  side  only.  Here  the  rule  is  that  the  grantor  retains 
the  river  within  its  own  domain,  and  the  newly  created  state 
extends  to  the  river  only.  The  Chief  Justice  declared  that 
the  case  before  the  Court  fell  under  the  second  rule  ;  and  that 

1  Wheat  on,  V.,  691. 


THE   NORTHWESTERN   CESSIONS.  253 

the  only  question  to  be  determined  was,  What  is  the  river  in 
such  a  case  ?  "  Wherever  the  river  is  a  boundary  between 
states,  it  is  the  main,  the  permanent  river,  which  constitutes 
that  boundary,"  he  says  ;  "  and  the  mind  will  find  itself  embar- 
rassed with  insurmountable  difficulties  in  attempting  to  draw 
any  other  line  than  the  low-water  mark."  "The  sole  question 
in  the  cause  respected  the  boundary  of  Kentucky  and  Indiana  ; 
and  the  title  depended  entirely  upon  that  question."  He  held 
that  low-water  mark  on  the  northwest  bank  is  the  boundary 
between  the  two  States,  and  closed  his  opinion  with  the  words, 
"  the  shores  of  a  river  border  on  the  water's  edge." 

To  the  historian  the  principal  interest  of  this  decision  arises 
from  the  fact  that  it  recognizes  the  Virginia  cession  of  1784  as 
the  ground  of  title  on  the  southern  limit  of  Indiana,  and  so, 
by  parity  of  reasoning,  throughout  the  whole  Northwest  wher- 
ever there  had  been  no  conflict  of  claims  between  Virginia  and 
other  States.  Marshall's  reasoning  all  proceeds  on  that  as- 
sumption, and  he  expressly  says  :  "  The  question  whether  the 
lands  in  controversy  lie  within  the  State  of  Kentucky  or  Indi- 
ana depends  chiefly  on  the  land-laws  of  Virginia,  and  on  the 
cession  made  by  that  State  to  the  United  States."  The  distin- 
guished jurist  had  a  good  opportunity,  if  he  had  desired  one,  to 
ignore  the  Virginia  cession  altogether  ;  and  to  base  the  title  on 
the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  he  had  only  to  apply  the  rule  of 
international  law  that  makes  the  middle  thread  of  a  river  flow- 
ing between  two  states  the  boundary,  when  the  original  prop- 
erty was  in  neither,  and  there  is  no  convention  respecting  it. 
He  quotes  this  rule,  but  sets  it  aside  as  not  applying  to  the 
case  before  the  Court.  He  bases  the  decision  distinctly  on  the 
other  rule.  "When,  as  in  this  case,  one  state  is  the  original 
proprietor,  and  grants  the  territory  on  one  side  only,  it  retains 
the  river  within  its  own  domain,  and  the  newly-created  state 
extends  to  the  river  only." 

In  Garner's  case,  Mr.  Vinton  sought  to  break  the  force  of 
this  decision  on  the  ground  that  the  Virginia  cession  was  not 
in  the  record  of  the  case  before  the  Chief  Justice  ;  but  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Virginia  followed  the  precedent  that  Marshall  had 
set,  and  directed  the  defendants  to  be  set  at  liberty,  because  the 


254  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

offence  with  which  they  were  charged  was  not  committed  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  State. 

In  1800,  Marshall  reviewed  the  Connecticut  title  to  the  West- 
ern Reserve  in  an  elaborate  report  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives.1 He  held  that  title  to  be  good  and  sufficient  in  this 
report ;  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he  would 
have  done  the  same  thing,  if  the  occasion  had  arisen,  from  the 
Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States. 

1  State  Papers  :  Public  Lands,  I.,  94  et  seq. 


XIV. 
THE   LAND-ORDINANCE   OF    1785. 

ONE  of  the  great  arguments  used  in  urging  the  claimant 
States  to  surrender  some  portion  of  their  Western  lands  was 
the  needs  of  the  State  and  Federal  treasuries.  In  the  resolu- 
tions of  Congress  asking  for  them,  the  cessions  are  considered 
as  lands  to  be  sold  as  well  as  territory  to  be  made  into  new 
States.  The  idea  of  revenue  is  also  prominent  in  the  acts  of 
cession.  It  was  almost  distinctively  a  new  idea.  In  colonial 
days,  waste  lands  had  not  proved  a  source  of  income  to  either 
the  colonies  or  the  Grown.  The  Crown  had  reserved  a  small 
quit-rent,  but  it  was  rarely  paid.  Virginia  imposed  an  an- 
nual rental  of  two  cents  per  acre  upon  her  waste  lands,  and 
then  threw  them  open  to  indiscriminate  locations.  Whole 
States,  as  West  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky,  were  dis- 
posed of  without  affording  any  public  revenue  whatever.  It 
is,  therefore,  somewhat  difficult  to  understand  how  the  idea 
that  the  over-mountain  lands  would  be  a  source  of  large 
income  became  current.  But  so  it  was.  Whatever  is  the 
explanation,  the  new  idea  could  not  be  realized  without  a 
system  of  surveys  such  as  was  unknown  to  any  one  of  the 
colonies.  This  need  was  met  by  Congress  in  "An  Ordi- 
nance for  ascertaining  the  mode  of  disposing  of  lands  in  the 
Western  territory,"  enacted  May  20,  1785,  but  applying  only 
to  such  lands  as  had  already  been  ceded  by  individual  States 
to  the  United  States,  and  also  been  purchased  by  the  United 
States  of  the  Indians.  Before  presenting  the  salient  features 
of  this  ordinance,  it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  two  or  three  of 
these  Indian  treaties. 


256  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST.    • 

By  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  1768,  the  Six  Nations  had 
sold  all  their  right  and  title  to  lands  lying  south  and  south- 
east of  the  treaty-line  running  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ten- 
nessee to  Wood  Creek,  save  those  in  the  Province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  pre-emption  of  which  belonged  to  the  Penns.  North 
and  west  of  that  line  they  continued  in  as  full  possession  as 
ever.  The  protectorate  of  the  Iroquois,  recognized  in  1713 
and  in  1726,  in  no  way  touched  the  fee  of  the  Indian  lands. 
Braddock  marched  toward  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio  to  defend 
the  allies  of  England,  whose  dominions  were  invaded,  and  he 
called  upon  the  Indians  to  come  to  his  help  for  that  reason. 
But  by  a  second  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  negotiated  in  1784 
by  Oliver  Wolcott,  Richard  Butler,  and  Arthur  Lee,  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  Congress,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
Six  Nations,  they  yielded  to  the  United  States  all  their  claims 
to  the  country  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  Johnston's  Landing 
Place  on  Lake  Ontario  southerly  to  the  mouth  of  Buffalo 
Creek  on  Lake  Erie,  and  always  four  miles  south  of  the 
"  carrying  path  "  between  the  two  lakes  ;  thence  south  to  the 
north  boundary  of  Pennsylvania ;  thence  west  to  the  end  of 
the  said  north  boundary ;  and  thence  south  to  the  Ohio 
River.  The  first  practical  effect  of  this  line  was  the  aliena- 
tion by  the  Iroquois  of  all  their  interest  in  the  Northwest. 

The  United  States  still  had  to  deal  with  the  Western  Ind- 
ians— those  on  the  soil — for  these  tribes  did  not  acknowledge 
that  the  Six  Nations  could  deed  away  their  lands.  A  treaty 
concluded  at  Fort  Mclntosh,  January  21,  1785,  between  com- 
missioners of  the  United  States  and  the  sachems  and  war- 
riors of  the  Wyandot,  Delaware,  Chippewa,  and  Ottawa  na- 
tions, made  the  Cuyahoga  River,  the  portage  between  that 
stream  and  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum,  and  the 
Tuscarawas  as  far  as  the  crossing  place  above  Fort  Laurens ; 
a  line  drawn  thence  westerly  to  the  portage  of  the  Great 
Miami ;  the  portage  between  the  Miami  and  the  Maumee, 
and  the  Maumee ;  and  Lake  Erie  to  the  north  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga, the  boundaries  between  the  United  States  and  the  said 


THE   LAND-ORDINANCE   OF    1785.  257 

tribes.  Within  these  lines  the  Indians  could  still  live  and 
hunt ;  but  lands  east,  south,  and  west  were  declared  to  belong 
to  the  United  States,  "so  far  as  the  said  Indians  formerly 
claimed  the  same."  This  treaty,  which  was  reaffirmed  at 
Fort  Harmar  in  1789,  was  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  treaties 
that  finally  put  the  United  States  in  full  possession  of  all  the 
Northwestern  lands.  The  two  treaties  now  sketched  show 
how  matters  stood  when  the  old  Congress  enacted  the  land- 
ordinance  that  we  are  now  to  examine. 

This  ordinance  provided  for  a  corps  of  surveyors,  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  Congress,  or  a  committee  of  the  States,  one  from 
each  State,  to  survey  the  lands  already  ceded  and  purchased, 
under  the  directions  of  the  Geographer  of  the  United  States. 
These  paragraphs  describe  the  main  features  of  the  plan  of 
survey :  s 

"  The  surveyors     .    .     .     shall  proceed  to  divide  the  said     / 
territory  into  townships  of  6  miles  square,  by  lines  running  due 
north  and  south,  and  others  crossing  these  at  right  angles,  as 
near  as  may  be.     .     .     . 

"  The  first  line,  running  north  and  south  as  aforesaid  shall 
begin  on  the  River  Ohio,  at  a  point  that  shall  be  found  to  be 
due  north  from  the  western  termination  of  a  line,  which  has 
been  run  as  the  southern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  and  the  first  line  running  east  and  west  shall  begin 
at  the  same  point  and  shall  extend  throughout  the  whole  terri- 
tory ;  provided  that  nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  as  fixing 
the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Ge- 
ographer shall  designate  the  townships,  or  fractional  parts  of 
townships,  by  numbers  progressively  from  south  to  north;  al- 
ways beginning  each  range  with  No.  i  ;  and  the  ranges  shall  be 
distinguished  by  their  progressive  numbers  to  the  westward. 
The  first  range,  extending  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Lake  Erie  being 
marked  No.  i.  The  Geographer  shall  personally  attend  to  the 
running  of  the  first  east  and  west  line  ;  and  shall  take  the  lati- 
tude of  the  extremes  of  the  first  north  and  south  line,  and  of 
the  mouths  of  the  principal  rivers. 


258  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  The  lines  shall  be  measured  with  a  chain  ;  shall  be  plainly 
marked  by  chaps  on  the  trees,  and  exactly  described  on  a  plat, 
whereon  shall  be  noted  by  the  surveyor,  at  their  proper  dis- 
tances, all  mines,  salt-springs,  salt-licks,  and  mill-seats,  that 
shall  come  to  his  knowledge  ;  and  all  water-courses,  mountains  • 
and  other  remarkable  and  permanent  things,  over  and  near 
which  such  lines  shall  pass,  and  also  the  quality  of  the  lands. 

"  The  plats  of  the  townships  respectively,  shall  be  marked 
by  subdivisions  into  lots  of  one  mile  square  or  640  acres,  in  the 
same  direction  as  the  external  lines,  and  numbered  from  i  to 
36  ;  always  beginning  the  succeeding  range  of  the  lots  with  the 
number  next  to  that  with  which  the  preceding  one  concluded. 
And  where,  from  the  causes  before  mentioned,  only  a  fraction- 
al part  of  a  township  shall  be  surveyed,  the  lots,  protracted 
thereon,  shall  bear  the  same  numbers  as  if  the  township  had 
been  entire.  And  the  surveyors,  in  running  the  external  lines 
of  the  townships,  shall,  at  the  interval  of  every  mile,  mark  cor- 
ners for  the  lots  which  are  adjacent,  always  designating  the 
same  in  a  different  manner  from  those  of  the  townships. 

"  The  Geographer  and  surveyors  shall  pay  the  utmost  atten- 
tion to  the  variation  of  the  magnetic  needle  ;  and  shall  run  and 
note  all  lines  by  the  true  meridian,  certifying,  with  every  plat, 
what  was  the  variation  at  the  times  of  running  the  lines  thereon 
noted."  l 

As  soon  as  seven  ranges  were  surveyed,  the  Geographer 
should  transmit  the  plats  to  the  Board  of  Treasury,  to  be 
carefully  recorded  ;  and  so  for  every  succeeding  series  of  sev- 
en ranges.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
from  time  to  time,  to  take  by  lot  from  the  whole  number  of 
townships  and  fractional  townships  making  up  each  series  of 
seven  ranges,  as  well  those  to  be  sold  entire  as  those  to  be  sold 
in  lots,  one-seventh  of  the  whole,  for  the  use  of  the  Continen- 
tal Army ;  until  enough  land  should  be  drawn  to  satisfy  the 
claims  arising  under  the  resolutions  of  Congress,  adopted  Sep- 
tember 1 6  and  18,  1776,  and  August  12  and  September  22, 

'Journals  of  Congress,  IV,,  520. 


THE  LAND-ORDINANCE  OF   1785.  259 

1780.  The  Board  of  Treasury  should  cause  the  remaining 
numbers  "  to  be  drawn  for  in  the  name  of  the  thirteen  States 
respectively,  according  to  the  quotas  in  the  last  preceding 
requisition  on  all  the  States,"  and  should  certify  the  results 
of  such  drawings  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  State  Loan 
offices.  The  State  Commissioners  should  now  proceed  to 
sell  the  lands  at  public  vendue,  after  first  advertising  them,  in 
the  following  manner :  Townships  I,  3,  5,  etc.,  whole  or  frac- 
tional, in  the  first  range,  entire  ;  Nos.  2,  4,  6,  etc.,  in  the  same 
range,  in  lots ;  townships  I,  3,  5,  in  the  second  range,  in  lots; 
Nos.  2,  4,  6,  entire ;  and  so  on,  alternating  throughout,  pro- 
vided that  no  lands  should  be  sold  at  a  less  price  than  one  dol- 
lar an  acre  in  specie  or  its  equivalent  in  certificates  of  State 
or  United  States  indebtedness,  and  the  cost  of  surveying  and 
other  charges,  which  are  rated  at  $36  a  township.  Lots  Nos. 
8,  1 1,  26,  29,  in  all  whole  townships,  and  such  of  them  as  were 
found  in  the  fractional  townships,  were  reserved  to  the  United 
States  for  future  sale.  The  ordinance  also  declared  :  "  There 
shall  be  reserved  the  lot  No.  16  of  every  township  for  the 
maintenance  of  public  schools,  within  tlie  said  township ;  also 
one  third  part  of  all  gold,  silver,  lead,  and  copper  mines  to 
be  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of  as  Congress  shall  hereafter 
direct." 

The  lands  between  the  Scioto  and  Little  Miami  Rivers, 
that  Virginia  had  contingently  reserved,  were  excepted  from 
the  operation  of  the  ordinance.  Three  townships  adjacent  to 
Lake  Erie  were  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  Canada  and  Nova 
Scotia  refugees  who  had  adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  colonies 
in  the  war,  and  lands  on  the  Muskingum  were  reserved  for 
the  Christian  Indians  of  Gnadenhiitten,  Schonbrunn,  and 
Salem.  Deeds  should  be  given  for  lands  by  the  Loan  Com- 
missioners of  the  States ;  records  of  deeds  should  be  kept  in 
the  loan  offices ;  and  a  regular  system  of  accounting  between 
the  Federal  and  State  authorities  should  be  observed.  All 
moneys  received  by  the  commissioners  for  the  lands  sold 
should  be  charged  to  them.  Provision  was  also  made  for  dis- 


260  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tributing  the  lands  reserved  for  bounties  for  service  in  the 
Continental  Army. 

Under  this  ordinance,  the  Federal  Government  made  its 
first  land-surveys,  the  so-called  "seven  ranges"  adjoining 
Pennsylvania,  south  of  the  forty-first  parallel,  frequently  men- 
tioned in  histories  of  Ohio. 

The  Land-Ordinance  of  1785  is  eminently  characteristic  of 
the  time  in  which  it  was  enacted.  It  is  a  curious  medley  of 
state  and  national  ideas.  In  operation  it  would  have  been 
exceedingly  complex  and  cumbersome.  But  its  state  feat- 
ures passed  away  when  the  Constitution  went  into  operation, 
while  national  features  are  still  alive.  It  contained  the  germs 
of  our  present  admirable  system  of  national  land-surveys : 
Base-lines ;  boundaries  carefully  run,  measured,  and  marked 
according  to  a  uniform  plan ;  the  six-mile  township  and  the 
"section;"  maps  and  plats,  deeds  and  records.  In  no  case 
was  the  land  to  be  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of  before  it  had 
been  surveyed.  The  greatest  defect  of  the  plan  of  survey  was 
the  lack  of  subdivisions  smaller  than  a  square  mile,  but  this 
was  afterward  overcome. 

With  all  its  defects,  this  ordinance  was  perfection  itself 
compared  with  the  old  colonial  methods ;  say,  that  of  Virginia. 
Here  the  State  made  no  surveys  whatever  before  disposing  of 
the  lands  to  the  settler  or  speculator.  The  prospective  owner 
sought  out  a  tract  of  land  that  pleased  him,  and  caused  a  sur- 
vey to  be  made  and  marked,  the  latter  generally  by  "blaz- 
ing "  the  trees  with  a  hatchet.  The  survey  was  then  recorded 
in  the  State  land-office,  and  became  the  basis  for  warrants 
covering  the  land.  Such  was  the  way  in  which  the  lands  of 
West  Virginia  and  Kentucky  were  "taken  up."  The  read- 
er of  Washington's  correspondence  with  Crawford  finds  it 
well  illustrated  in  practice,  and  at  the  same  time  gets  an  in- 
sight into  a  phase  of  Washington's  character.  This  method 
gave  the  greatest  scope  to  settlement.  The  pre-emptor  was 
never  obliged  to  wait  for  the  surveyor.  Such  a  system  led  to 
the  "  running  out "  of  all  sorts  of  tracts  of  land.  Half  a  dozen 


THE  LAND-ORDINANCE  OF   1785.  261 

patents  would  sometimes  be  given  for  the  same  tract.  Pieces 
of  land,  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  lay  between  the  patents  ;  and 
in  time,  as  lands  became  more  valuable,  huge  "blanket" 
patents  were  thrown  out  to  catch  these  pieces.  Such  a  sys- 
tem naturally  begot  no  end  of  litigation,  and  there  remain 
in  Kentucky  curious  vestiges  of  it,  that  Professor  Shaler  thus 
describes : 

"Of  all  these  conflicts  the  Virginia,  and,  following  it,  the 
Kentucky  land-office  took  no  note.  To  this  day  one  can,  if  he 
please  to  pay  the  costs,  '  patent '  any  land  that  lies  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  repeat  the  process  on  the  same  area  each  year.  The 
State  only  guarantees  the  entry  if  the  land  is  unpossessed  under 
previous  title  of  valid  kind.  In  time  a  vast  amount  of  litiga- 
tion and  no  end  of  trouble  came  out  of  this  scheme.  At  this 
moment,  owing  to  the  absence  of  records,  there  are  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  acres  in  Kentucky  over  which  no  sort  of 
ownership  has  ever  been  exercised.  No  taxes  are  collected  on 
them.  If  they  have  ever  been  surveyed,  no  one  knows  under 
%vhat  patents  they  are  claimed."  l 

As  it  was,  there  was  a  sufficiency  of  land-litigation  in  the 
Northwest  Territory  ;  but  the  first  settlers  and  their  descend- 
ants have  the  greatest  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the  old  Con- 
gress for  saving  them  from/such  confusion  as  Virginia  suffered 
to  come  upon  Kentucky/ 

The  system  of  surveys  inaugurated  did  not  extend  to 
the  Connecticut  and  Virginia  reservations  on  the  south- 
ern shore  of  Lake  Erie  and  the  northern  bank  of  the  Ohio. 
Every  Ohioan  can  join  with  Dr.  Andrews,  of  Marietta,  in 
this  opinion  :  "  It  would  have  been  desirable  if  the  system 
of  uniform  ranges,  townships  and  sections,  which  commenced 
with  the  seven  ranges  in  the  summer  of  1786,  could  have 
been  carried  out  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  State  ;  avoid- 
ing the  confusion  of  the  five-mile  system  of  the  Western 

1  Kentucky,  49,  51. 


262  THE   *LD   NtRTHWEST. 

Reserve  and  the  no  system  of  the  Virginia  Military  Dis- 
trict." ' 

The  reservation  to  Congress  of  one-third  of  the  gold,  silver, 
and  copper  came  to  naught ;  but  the  dedication  to  the  sup- 
port of  public  schools  of  lot  No.  16  in  every  township  was  a 
far-reaching  act  of  statesmanship  that  is  of  perpetual  interest. 
It  was  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  long  series  of  similar  dedi- 
cations made  by  Congress  to  education;  and  the  funds  de- 
rived from  the  sale  of  these  original  "  school  lands  "  are  the 
bulk  of  the  public-school  endowments  of  the  five  great  States 
of  the  old  Northwest. 

NOTE. — There  has  been  some  controversy  as  to  the  author 
of  the  plan  of  survey  incorporated  in  the  Ordinance  of  1785. 
The  late  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey  accords  the  honor  to 
Thomas  Hutchins,  first  Geographer  of  the  United  States,  whose 
duties  were  similar  to  those  now  performed  by  the  Surveyor-  • 
General  of  the  Public  Lands.  Whittlesey  says  Hutchins  con- 
ceived "this  simplest  of  all  known  modes  of  survey"  in  1764, 
when  he  was  a  captain  in  the  Sixtieth  Royal  Regiment,  andv 
engineer  to  the  expedition  to  Ohio,  under  Colonel  Henry  Bou- 
quet. It  formed  a  part  of  his  plan  of  military  colonies  north 
of  the  Ohio  as  a  protection  against  Indians.  The  seven  ranges 
were  surveyed  in  1786-87,  under  the  protection  of  United  States 
troops.  The  base-line  of  this  survey,  known  as  "  the  Geogra- 
pher's line,"  runs  west  from  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  where 
the  State  line  crosses  it,  forty-two  miles. 

Hutchins  died  at  Pittsburg  in  1788,  where  his  remains  now 
lie  unnoticed,  in  the  cemetery  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church. — Ohio  Surveys,  Tract  No.  59,  of  Western  Reserve  and 
Northern  Ohio  Historical  Society. 

1  Ohio  Archaeological  and  Historical  Quarterly,  4,  June,  1887. 


XV. 

THE    ORDINANCE    OF    1787. 

THE  ordinance  enacted,  July  13,  1787,  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the 
River  Ohio  is  one  of  the  memorable  documents  that  passed 
the  doors  of  the  old  Congress.  It  ranks  with  the  great  State 
papers  of  1774  and  1775,  that  won  from  Lord  Chatham  the 
encomium  :  "  For  solidity  of  reason,  force  of  sagacity,  and  wis- 
dom of  conclusion,  under  a  complication  of  difficult  circum- 
stances, no  nation  or  body  of  men  stand  in  preference  to  the 
General  Congress  at  Philadelphia ;  "  with  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  should  always  hang,  Lord  Brougham  said, 
in  the  cabinets  of  kings ;  with,  or  rather  above,  the  Articles 
of  Confederation,  that,  with  all  their  imperfection  and  weak- 
ness, still  formed  the  first  constitution  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, and  contained  the  elements  for  the  evolution  of  a  more 
perfect  union. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  stands  at  the  convergence  of  three 
series  of  important  events.  The  first  of  these  entered  into 
many  great  questions  of  the  time,  as  Confederation,  finance, 
the  national  boundaries,  foreign  relations,  Western  settlements, 
the  Northwestern  and  Southwestern  territories,  the  admis- 
sion to  the  Union  of  Vermont  as  a  State,  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  the  fidelity  of  the  Southwest  to  the 
Union.  These  events  are  the  cessions  that  have  already  been 
treated,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  old  Northwest.  Except 
the  Western  Reserve,  and  the  lands  that  Virginia  had  re- 
tained in  Southern  Ohio  to  discharge  her  obligations  to  her 
soldiers,  the  four  cessions  gave  the  United  States  a  clear  title 


264  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

to  the  territory  bounded  by  the  Lakes,  the  Ohio,  and  the 
Mississippi.  This  was  the  original  public  domain.  It  was  a 
territory  in  which  all  the  States  had  a  common  interest ;  it 
furnished  national  subjects  of  legislation ;  and  it  prepared  the 
way  for  the  Constitution.  The  "happy  effects  of  the  cessions 
upon  the  States,  and  upon  the  Nation,  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated ;  one  of  them  being  the  escape  from  the  difficulties 
attending  any  attempt  to  adjust  the  conflicting  jurisdictions. 
These  Northwestern  cessions  are  the  culmination  of  the  first 
series  of  events  leading  up  to  the  Ordinance.  Moreover, 
they  put  the  United  States  in  what  was  really  a  very  anom- 
alous position.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  "  ar- 
ticles of  confederation  and  perpetual  union  "  among  States ; 
and  they  no  more  contemplated  a  Federal  territory  to  be 
managed  by  Congress  than  the  Constitution  of  1787  contem- 
plated the  acquisition  of  territory  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
1783.  To  some  extent,  no  doubt,  this  fact  explains  the  re- 
markable form  of  government  that  was  devised  for  the 
Northwest. 

Previous  to  1748,  the  English  colonies  had  taken  little  in- 
terest in  the  interior  of  North  America.  After  that  all  was 
changed.  The  Ohio  Company,  organized  in  1 748 ;  the  "  Plan 
of  Union,"  adopted  by  the  Albany  Congress  of  1754;  Dr. 
Franklin's  comments  on  the  "  Plan,"  and  his  "  Plan  for  set- 
tling two  Western  Colonies  in  North  America,"  have  all  been 
fully  treated  in  another  place.  Governor  Thomas  Pownall, 
who  has  been  called  the  only  British  official  in  the  country 
who  had  a  statesman-like  grasp  of  colonial  questions,  favored 
what  he  called  "barrier  colonies,"  after  the  fashion  of  the 
marks  and  marches  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Pownall  wrote  home : 
"  If  the  English  would  advance  one  step  farther,  or  cover  them- 
selves where  they  are,  it  must  be  at  once,  by  one  large  step 
over  the  mountains,  with  a  numerous  and  military  colony." ' 
The  coming  on  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  adjourned  the 

1  Sparks  :  Works  of  Franklin,  III.,  69. 


THE   ORDINANCE   OF    1787.  265 

plans  of  the  Ohio  Company,  of  Franklin,  and  of  Pownall,  un- 
til the  sword  should  decide  to  whom  the  West  belonged ;  and 
even  when  the  sword  had  rendered  a  verdict  in  favor  of  Eng- 
land, the  proclamation  of  1763  still  further  adjourned  similar 
plans.  But  the  paths  that  the  wild  deer  had  made  over  the 
mountains  could  not  be  blocked  up.  The  hunter  followed 
the  deer,  and  the  settler  followed  the  hunter.  Adventurous 
Pennsylvanians  and  Virginians  began  to  enter  the  valleys 
leading  to  the  Ohio ;  James  Robertson  was  at  Watauga  in 
1769,  and  John  Sevier  came  soon  after;  Boone  entered  the 
Dark  and  Bloody  Ground  the  same  year;  and  when  the  em- 
battled farmers  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world,  a  party 
of  hunters  in  the  valley  of  the  Elkhorn  heard  the  echo,  and 
baptized  the  station  that  they  were  building  "  Lexington." 
It  has  been  said  that  the  English  race  has  a  hunger  for  the 
horizon.  "  Have  not  all  America  extended  their  back  settle- 
ments in  opposition  to  laws  and  proclamations  ?  "  is  a  ques- 
tion that  Judge  David  Campbell  asked  Governor  Caswell, 
when  the  people  of  the  back  counties  of  North  Carolina  were 
trying  to  set-up  the  State  of  Franklin.  But  sporadic  settle- 
ments under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  old  States  did  not  fill  the 
ambition  of  the  times  ;  and  in  less  than  three  years  from  the 
signing  of  the  royal  proclamation  the  discussion  of  interior 
colonies  was  boldly  renewed.  Again  Franklin  bore  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  discussion.  In  1766,  1767,  and  1768  he 
pressed  upon  the  home  government  a  grant  for  a  colony  in 
the  Illinois,  and  was  refused.  In  1769  he  presented  another, 
praying  for  a  grant  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Ohio.  This 
time  he  was  successful;  the  petition  was  granted  in  1772, 
terms  of  government  were  agreed  upon,  and  the  charter  was 
made  ready  for  the  seals,  when  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
with  England  again  adjourned  Western  colonies  to  more 
peaceful  times,  y 

All  through  the  Revolution  the  over-mountain  settlements 
were  slowly  growing ;  the  Maryland  amendment  of  1777,  and 
.the  Congressional  resolutions  of  1780,  kept  the  thought  of  new 


266  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

and  independent  States  before  the  country ;  and  with  the  re- 
turn of  peace,  the  acknowledgment  of  independence,  and  the 
concession  of  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  as  our  northwest- 
ern and  western  boundaries,  together  with  the  land-cessions, 
the  hour  of  preparation  for  planting  the  West  with  new 
States  struck.  There  was  no  time  to  lose  if  the  West  was  to 
remain  in  our  hands ;  for  the  Briton  and  the  Spaniard  con- 
tinued to  retain  considerable  portions  of  our  territory,  and 
neither  looked  upon  the  boundaries  of  1783  as  finalities.  In  his 
well-known  letter  to  Governor  Harrison,  Washington  wrote 
in  1784:  "The  flanks  and  rear  of  the  United  States  are 
possessed  by  other  powers,  and  formidable  ones,  too ; "  it  is 
necessary  to  "  apply  the  cement  of  interest  to  bind  all  parts  of 
the  Union  together  by  indissoluble  bonds ; "  "  the  Western 
States  stand,  as  it  were,  upon  a  pivot — the  touch  of  a  feather 
would  turn  them  any  way."  ' 

On  the  ist  of  March,  1784,  the  very  day  that  Virginia 
completed  her  cession,  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee, reported  to  Congress  a  temporary  plan  of  govern- 
ment for  the  Western  territory;  and  this  plan,  variously 
amended,  became  an  ordinance  of  Congress  on  April  23d  fol- 
lowing. This  ordinance  did  not  organize  a  territorial  govern- 
ment, but  left  everything  inchoate ;  and,  with  all  its  merits, 
was  a  nullity,  and  was  repealed  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
Between  April  23,  1784,  and  July  9,  1787,  as  many  as  three 
ordinances  for  the  government  of  the  Western  territory  were 
reported  to  Congress:  May  10,  1786,  September -19,  1786, 
and  April  26,  1787.  These  ordinances,  one  and  all,  were 
quite  different  documents  from  the  one  whose  history  we 
are  now  tracing.  On  May  10,  1787,  the  last  one  had  reached 
the  third  reading,  when  its  further  progress  was  suddenly 
arrested  by  a  third  series  of  events  that  we  must  now  follow. 

But  first,  the  facts  now  related  in  regard  to  new  States  and 
governments  are  the  second  series,  at  the  junction  of  which 

1  Sparks  :  Writings  of  Washington,  IX.,  62,  63. 


THE   ORDINANCE  OF   1787.  267 

with  the  two  others  we  find  the  Ordinance  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Northwest  Territory. 

November  2,  1783,  Washington  took  leave  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  Continental  army,  and  two  days  later,  of  the  officers. 
He  left  both  in  a  most  distressful  condition ;  the  majority 
were  poor,  many  broken  in  health ;  they  were  all  unpaid,  and 
Congress  could  do  no  more  than  give  them  the  "  final  cer- 
tificates "  that  were  almost  worthless ;  eight  years  of  suffering 
lay  behind,  and  they  knew  not  how  many  more  of  poverty 
before.  In  that  dark  hour  some  of  them  looked  beyond  the 
Western  mountains  for  a  theatre  where  they  might  repair 
their  broken  fortunes,  as  they  had  in  darker  hours  often  looked 
there  as  a  place  of  retreat  from  the  enemy  in  case  of  over- 
whelming disaster ;  and  Washington,  in  his  final  order,  had 
cheered  them  with  these  words  :  "  The  extensive  and  fertile 
regions  of  the  West  will  yield  a  most  happy  asylum  to  those 
who,  fond  of  domestic  enjoyment,  are  seeking  for  personal 
independence."1  Even  before  that  order  was  issued,  a  plan 
for  forming  a  new  State  westward  of  the  Ohio  was  in  con- 
templation; and  on  June  16,  1783,  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  officers  of  the  Continental  line  of  the  army  had  petitioned 
Congress  to  assign  and  mark  out  the  tract  of  land  bounded  by 
Lake  Erie  on  the  north,  Pennsylvania  on  the  east,  the  Ohio 
on  the  south,  a  meridian  twenty-four  miles  west  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Scioto,  and  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes  on  the  west,  as 
the  seat  of  a  distinct  colony  of  the  United  States,  "  in  time 
to  be  admitted  one  of  the  confederated  States  of  America."  J 
The  petitioners  also  asked  that  their  bounty  lands  be  set  off 
to  them  in  this  district.  This  petition  was  really  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Ohio  Company  of  Associates,  organized  at  the 

1  Sparks :    Writings  of  Washington,  VIII.,  493. 

*  Of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty- five  names,  two  hundred  and  thirty- five  be- 
longed to  New  England,  thirty-six  to  New  Jersey,  thirteen  to  Maryland,  and  one 
to  New  York.  The  New  England  names  belonged,  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  to 
Massachusetts,  thirty-four  to  New  Hampshire,  and  forty-six  to  Connecticut. 
— Ohio  Archaeological  and  Historical  Quarterly,  June,  1887,  46. 


268  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  Bunch  of  Grapes,"  in  Boston,  March  3,  1786.  This  organ- 
ization meant,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  The  conversion  of  those 
old  final  certificates  into  future  homes,  westward  of  the  Ohio," 
and  "  the  formation  of  a  new  State."  The  directors  sent 
one  of  their  number,  General  S.  H.  Parsons,  of  Middletown, 
Conn.,  to  Congress  to  negotiate  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of 
land  ;  and  it  was  his  arrival  in  New  York,  May  loth,  that 
arrested  the  progress  of  the  ordinance  that  had  been  reported 
the  previous  month.  Parsons  presented  his  memorial,  which 
was  referred  to  a  committee,  and  returned  home.  His  place 
was  shortly  taken  by  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  of  Ipswich,  Mass. 
Cutler  reached  New  York  on  July  5th,  the  day  before  the 
pending  ordinance  was  to  be  taken  up.  The  few  days  fol- 
lowing his  waiting  upon  Congress  are  big  with  the  issues  of 
futurity.  They  are  the  convergence  of  the  three  lines  of 
events  that  we  have  been  following — the  land-cessions,  the 
growing  interest  in  Western  colonization,  and  the  objects  of 
the  Ohio  Company — where  we  find  the  immortal  Ordinance. 

Dr.  Cutler's  ostensible  business  in  New  York  was  to  pur- 
chase as  much  of  the  land  bounded  by  the  petition  of  1783  as 
Congress  would  exchange  for  $1,000,000  of  the  evidences  of 
the  public  debt.  But  he  was  really  as  much  interested  in  the 
ordinance  that  Congress  was  then  considering  as  in  the  me- 
morial of  General  Parsons ;  for  what  would  homes  be  worth 
to  New  England  men  without  good  government  ?  He  seems, 
indeed,  to  have  had  almost  as  much  to  do  with  the  one  as 
with  the  other.  It  is  impossible  and  unnecessary  to  give  in 
detail  the  history  of  those  eventful  July  days,  but  a  rapid 
summary  of  events  is  essential  to  our  purpose. 

Only  eight  States  were  then  present  by  their  delegates  in 
Congress — Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  On 
the  9th  of  July  the  ordinance  of  April  preceding  was  re- 
ferred to  a  new  committee — Carrington  and  Lee  of  Virginia, 
Dane  of  Massachusetts,  Kean  of  South  Carolina,  and  Smith 


THE   ORDINANCE   OF    1787.  269 

of  New  York — three  of  them  Southern  men.  On  the  loth, 
Dr.  Cutler,  in  response  to  an  invitation  of  the  committee, 
submitted  in  writing  his  views  touching  an  ordinance  ;  on  the 
I  ith,  the  committee  reported  ;  and  on  the  I3th,  after  receiving 
some  amendments,  the  report  was  adopted  by  the  unanimous 
vote  of  the  States  present,  and  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
eighteen  delegates,  with  the  exception  of  Yates  of  New  York. 
Thus,  an  act  of  legislation  that  had  been  before  Congress  for 
more  than  three  years  was  consummated  within  a  week  from 
the  time  that  Dr.  Cutler,  who  had  been  twelve  days  on  the 
way,  drove  his  gig  up  to  the  "  Plough  and  the  Harrow,"  in 
the  Bowery. 

Admirable  in  matter  and  in  literary  style  as  the  Ordinance 
is,  its  provisions  are  not  arranged  with  that  careful  method 
which  Gouverneur  Morris  gave  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  I  shall  make  no  attempt  at  classification  be- 
yond remarking  that  the  Ordinance  created  a  machinery  of 
government  for  immediate  use,  defined  the  method  and  spirit 
of  its  administration,  provided  for  the  creation  of  the  long- 
promised  new  States;  and  established  certain  principles  of 
civil  polity  that  should  be  of  perpetual  obligation. 

Section  I  constituted  the  Territory  one  district  for  tempo- 
rary government,  but  reserved  to  Congress  the  power  to  divide 
it  into  two  districts  in  the  future. 

Section  2  ordained  that  landed  estates  in  the  Territory,  of 
persons  dying  intestate,  should  be  divided  among  the  chil- 
dren of  the  intestate,  or  if  none,  among  the  next  of  kin,  in 
equal  shares.  This  provision  Jefferson  had  introduced  into 
the  ordinance  for  Western  lands  that  he  reported  in  1784,  and 
that  Congress  never  acted  upon,  in  the  words  :  "  The  lands 
therein  shall  pass  in  descent  and  dower  according  to  the  cus- 
toms known  in  the  common  law  by  the  name  of  gavelkind." 
It  adds  interest  to  the  fact  to  recall  that,  not  long  before,  en- 
tails and  primogeniture  had  been  eradicated  from  the  laws  of 
Virginia. 


270  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Sections  3  to  12,  inclusive,  created  a.  Territorial  govern- 
ment, and  directed  how  it  should  be  administered.  Congress 
should  appoint  a  governor  for  a  term  of  three  years,  a  secre- 
tary for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  three  judges  for  good  be- 
havior. Until  the  election  of  a  general  assembly,  the  gov- 
ernor and  judges  should  adopt  and  publish  in  the  district  such 
of  the  laws,  civil  and  criminal,  of  the  original  States  as  they 
deemed  necessary  and  best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
people,  subject  to  the  approval  of  Congress.  The  governor 
should  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia,  should  appoint 
and  commission  militia  officers  below  the  rank  of  general 
officers,  and  appoint  such  magistrates  and  other  civil  officers 
in  counties  and  townships  as  he  deemed  necessary  to  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  good  order.  The  secretary's  duties 
are  sufficiently  indicated  by  his  title.  Any  two  of  the  judges 
should  form  a  court  having  a  common-law  jurisdiction.  A 
general  assembly  was  authorized  as  soon  as  there  should  be  five 
thousand  free  male  inhabitants,  of  full  age,  in  the  district.  The 
legislature  should  consist,  when  formed,  of  a  governor,  a  legis- 
lative council,  and  a  house  of  representatives  ;  the  representa- 
tives to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  but  the  five  members  of  the 
council  to  be  chosen  by  Congress  from  a  list  of  ten  nominated 
by  the  house  of  representatives.  The  legislature  should  elect 
a  Territorial  delegate  to  Congress.  All  the  officers  must  re- 
side in  the  Territory.  The  governor  must  own  a  freehold  of 
i,OOO  acres  of  land  in  the  district ;  the  secretary,  the  judges, 
and  the  members  of  the  council  must  have  similar  freeholds 
of  500  acres  each ;  representatives  must  hold,  in  their  own 
right,  200  acres  of  land  in  the  district,  and  no  man  was  a 
qualified  elector  of  a  representative,  the  only  elective  office, 
unless  he  filled  the  following  requirement  :  "  That  a  freehold 
in  50  acres  of  land  in  the  district,  having  been  a  citizen  of  one 
of  the  States,  and  being  resident  in  the  district,  or  the  like 
freehold  and  two  years'  residence  in  the  district,  shall  be  nec- 
essary to  qualify  a  man  as  an  elector  of  a  representative." 

What  havoc  these  rules  would  make  with  the  legislatures 


THE  ORDINANCE  OF   1787.  2/1 

and  electoral  bodies  of  to-day  !  They  were  intended  to  con- 
fine the  government  of  the  Territory  to  those  men  who  had, 
as  the  English  say,  "  a  stake  in  the  country."  Moreover,  they 
were  in  accord  with  the  temper  of  the  times,  and  they  stand 
on  the  statute-book  of  1787  a  landmark  from  which  we  may 
measure  how  far  the  American  people  have  drifted  on  the  tide 
of  democracy  in  one  hundred  years.  The  whole  government 
was  centralized  to  a  degree  that  would  not  now  be  endured  in 
the  United  States  outside  of  Utah. 

Then  follow  the  articles  of  compact  between  the  original 
States  and  the  people  and  States  in  the  Territory,  forever  un- 
alterable, unless  by  common  consent — the  six  bright  jewels  in 
the  crown  that  the  Northwest  Territory  was  ever  to  wear. 

Article  I.  declares  that  "  No  person  demeaning  himself  in 
a  peaceable  and  orderly  manner  shall  ever  be  molested  on  ac- 
count of  his  mode  of  worship  or  religious  sentiments,  in  the 
said  Territory." 

Article  II.  guarantees  to  the  inhabitants  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  trial  by  jury,  proportional  representation  in  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  privileges  of  the  common  law.  The  article  con- 
cludes with  the  declaration  "  That  no  law  ought  ever  to  be 
made  or  have  force  in  the  said  Territory  that  shall,  in  any 
manner  whatever,  interfere  with  or  affect  private  contracts,  or 
engagements  bona  fide,  and  without  fraud  previously  formed." 
A  few  weeks  later,  this  provision  was  copied  into  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  but  this  is  its  first  appearance  in 
a  charter  of  government.  It  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  troub- 
lous commercial  condition  of  the  country.  Lee,  who  origi- 
nally brought  it  forward,  intended  it  as  a  stroke  at  paper 
money. 

Article  III.  contains  those  words  that  should  be  embla- 
zoned on  the  escutcheon  of  every  American  State  :  "  Religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  government 
and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  edu- 
cation shall  forever  be  encouraged."  It  also  says  that  good 
faith  shall  be  observed  toward  the  Indians. 


2/2  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Article  IV.  ordained  "  That  the  said  Territory,  and  the 
States  which  may  be  formed  therein,  shall  forever  remain  a 
part  of  this  Confederacy  of  the  United  States  of  America,  sub- 
ject to  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  to  such  alterations 
therein  "  as  might  be  made,  and  to  the  laws  enacted  by  Con- 
gress. It  concludes,  after  some  provisions  in  regard  to  taxa- 
tion :  "  The  navigable  waters  leading  into  the  Mississippi  and 
St.  Lawrence,  and  the  carrying  places  between  the  same,  shall 
be  common  highways,  and  forever  free,  as  well  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  said  Territory  as  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  those  of  any  other  States  that  may  be  admit- 
ted into  the  Confederacy,  without  any  tax,  imposts,  or  duty 
therefor." 

Article  V.  provided  for  the  formation  in  the  Territory  of 
States,  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five,  and  drew  their 
boundary-lines  subject  to  changes  that  Congress  might  after- 
ward make.  A  population  of  60,000  free  inhabitants  should 
entitle  every  one  of  these  States  to  admission — not  "  into  the 
Union,"  a  phrase  that  came  in  with  the  Constitution,  but — 
"  by  its  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  an 
equal  footing  with  the  original  States  in  all  respects  whatever," 
and  to  "  form  a  permanent  constitution  of  State  government," 
with  the  proviso  that  "  the  constitution  and  government  so 
to  be  formed  shall  be  republican,  and  in  conformity  to  the 
principles  contained  in  these  articles." 

Article  VI.  dedicated  the  Northwest  to  freedom  forever. 
"  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in 
the  said  Territory,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted."  But  this 
prohibition  was  coupled  with  a  proviso  that  stamps  the  whole 
article  as  a  compromise.  "  Provided  always,  that  any  person 
escaping  into  the  same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully 
claimed  in  any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be 
lawfully  reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his 
or  her  labor  or  service  as  aforesaid." 

Mr.  W.  F.  Poole  says  that.  "  in  the  whole  range  of  topics 


THE   ORDINANCE   OF    1787.  273 

in  our  national  history  there  is  none  which  has  been  more  ob- 
scure, or  the  subject  of  more  conflicting  and  erroneous  state- 
ments, than  the  Ordinance  of  1787."  '  Much  labor  and  acute- 
ness  have  been  dented  to  the  discovery  of  the  authorship  of 
its  different  parts.  I  shall  neither  emulate  these  labors  nor 
particularize  their  results,  but  shall  content  myself  with  three 
or  four  observations. 

We  have  seen  that  four  different  ordinances  had  been 
previously  reported  to  Congress,  and  that  one  had  already 
been  enacted.  The  fifth  and  great  Ordinance,  as  Mr.  Ban- 
croft says,  embodied  the  best  parts  of  all  its  predecessors. 
But  it  embodied  more ;  and  all  the  evidence  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  much  of  the  new  material  was  contained  in 
the  paper  that  Dr.  Cutler  handed  to  the  committee,  July  loth, 
after  he  had  studied  the  ordinance  then  pending.  Whoever 
may  have  brought  them  forward,  the  imperishable  principles 
of  polity  woven  into  the  Ordinance  of  1787  were  the  ripe 
fruit  of  many  centuries  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  ;  but  the 
best  places  to  search  for  them  are  the  bills  of  rights  of  the 
Revolutionary  constitutions. 

The  immortal  prohibition  of  slavery  has  been  the  subject 
of  many  a  heated  controversy.  In  the  "  great  debate "  of 
1830,  Mr.  Webster  claimed  it  for  Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  Mr.  Hayne  and  Mr.  Benton  claimed  it  for  Thomas 
Jefferson.  Mr.  Dane  claimed  it  for  himself.  President  King 
of  Columbia  College  claimed  it  for  his  father,  Rufus  King. 
William  Grayson  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  have  also  been 
nominated  for  the  honor.  The  facts  are  these :  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's draught  of  the  Ordinance  of  1784  contained  a  prohibition 
of  slavery  in  all  Western  territory,  south  as  well  as  north  of  the 
Ohio  River,  to  take  effect  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1801, 
but  it  was  struck  out  in  Congress.  In  March,  1785,  Mr.  King 
moved  to  commit  a  proposition  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the 
Northwest  immediately ;  the  motion  prevailed,  but  Congress 

1  North  American  Review,  No.  251. 
18 


274  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

never  acted  upon  the  subject.  The  first  draught  of  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787  did  not  contain  the  prohibition;  but  Mr.  Dane, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  committee  of  July  Qth,  and  who 
wrote  that  draught,  brought  it  forward  oiPbhe  second  reading, 
apparently  on  a  suggestion  from  Virginia,  and  it  was  made' 
the  sixth  article  of  compact.  Nothing  can  be  finer  than  Mr. 
Bancroft's  distribution  of  the  honors  among  those  who  helped 
to  bring  about  this  grand  result : 

"Thomas  Jefferson  first  summoned  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  all  the  territory  of  the  United  States  ;  Rufus  King 
lifted  up  the  measure  when  it  lay  almost  lifeless  on  the  ground, 
and  suggested  the  immediate  instead  of  the  prospective  prohi- 
bition ;  a  Congress  composed  of  five  Southern  States  to  one 
from  New  England  and  two  from  the  Middle  States,  headed  by 
William  Grayson,  supported  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  using 
Nathan  Dane  as  scribe,  carried  the  measure  to  the  goal  in  the 
amended  form  in  which  King  had  caused  it  to  be  referred  to  a 
committee  ;  and  as  Jefferson  had  proposed,  placed  it  under  the 
sanction  of  an  irrevocable  compact."  l 

The  value  of  Rufus  King's  suggestion  will  appear  when 
we  come  to  study,  farther  on,  the  efforts  afterward  made  in 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  to  break  the  prohibition  down, 
and  when  we  reflect  upon  the  enormous  power  that  slavery 
would  have  had  in  the  Northwest  if  once  it  gained  a  foothold. 
Any  man  who  believes  that  it  was  Article  VI.  of  the  com- 
pacts of  1787  that  decided  the  great  issue  brought  to  a  close 
at  Appomattox  in  1865  must  read  the  history  of  those  July 
days  with  bated  breath.  Once  that  prohibition  had  been 
voted  down,  and  once  it  had  been  set  aside ;  it  had  been  re- 
jected by  Southern  men  when  Mr.  Jefferson  first  brought  it 
forward,  and  now  five  of  the  eight  States  present  are  South- 
ern States  and  eleven  of  the  eighteen  men  Southern  men. 

We  have  now  traced  the  main  events  that  led  up  to  July 

1  History,  VI.,  290. 


THE  ORDINANCE  OF   1787.  2/5 

but  we  should  also  observe  that  at  last  the  Ordinance 
could  not  have  been  secured,  as  it  is,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
happy  constitution  of  Congress  at  that  time,  for  the  address 
of  Dr.  Cutler  in  conducting  his  mission,  and  for  the  blessed 
influences  of  peace  and  wisdom  that  brooded  over  America  in 
that  year.  How  admirable  the  words  of  Bancroft : 

"  Before  the  Federal  Convention  had  referred  its  resolutions 
to  a  committee  of  detail,  an  interlude  in  Congress  was  shap- 
ing the  character  and  destiny  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Sublime  and  humane  and  eventful  in  the  history  of  mankind 
as  was  the  result,  it  will  take  not  many  words  to  tell  how  it 
was  brought  about.  For  a  time  wisdom  and  peace  and  justice 
dwelt  among  men,  and  the  great  Ordinance,  which  could  alone 
give  continuance  to  the  Union,  came  in  serenity  and  stillness. 
Every  man  that  had  a  share  in  it  seemed  to  be  led  by  an  invis- 
ible hand  to  do  just  what  was  wanted  of  him  ;  all  that  was 
wrongfully  undertaken  fell  to  the  ground  to  wither  by  the  way- 
side ;  whatever  was  needed  for  the  happy  completion  of  the 
mighty  work  arrived  opportunely,  and  just  at  the  right  moment 
moved  into  its  place."  : 

But  Dr.  Cutler  came  to  New  York  to  buy  land  ?  Strange  to 
say,  the  land-purchase  was  attended  by  more  trouble  than  the 
ordinance  of  government ;  but  on  July  2/th  Congress  author- 
ized the  sale  of  5,000,000  acres  lying  north  of  the  Ohio,  west 
of  the  seven  ranges,  and  east  of  the  Scioto  River,  1,500,000 
for  the  Ohio  Company,  and  "  the  remainder,"  to  quote  Dr. 
Cutler's  diary,  "  for  a  private  speculation  in  which  many  of 
the  principal  characters  of  America  are  concerned." a  The  total 
price  agreed  upon  was  three  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  but 
as  the  payments  were  made  in  public  securities  worth  only 
twelve  cents  on  a  dollar,  the  real  price  was  only  eight  or  nine 
cents  per  acre. 

1  History,  VI.,  277. 

5  The  "private  speculation"  was  the  Scioto  Company.  See  note  at  the  end 
of  chapter. 


2/6  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  The  Ordinance  of  1787  and  the  Ohio  purchase,"  says  Mr. 
Poole,  "  were  parts  of  one  and  the  same  transaction.  The 
purchase  would  not  have  been  made  without  the  Ordinance, 
and  the  Ordinance  could  not  have  been  enacted  except  as  an 
essential  condition  of  the  purchase."  The  meaning  of  this  is, 
that  the  New  England  men  would  not  buy  the  land  unless  a 
satisfactory  government  was  secured,  and  that  Congress  would 
not  have  enacted  the  Ordinance  had  it  not  been  for  the 
opportunity  to  make  a  large  sale  of  lands.  This  alone  makes 
the  sale  and  purchase  memorable,  but  it  is  memorable  for 
other  reasons.  The  agent  who  negotiated  it  says  it  was  "  the 
greatest  private  contract  ever  made  in  America,"  up  to  that 
time.  Besides,  the  "  Powers  to  the  Board  of  Treasury  "  au- 
thorizing the  sale  contain  some  features  that  rank  with  those 
of  the  Ordinance  itself.  The  Land  Ordinance  of  1785  re- 
served lot  No.  1 6  in  every  township,  or  a  thirty-sixth  part 
of  the  whole  West,  for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools 
within  the  township  ;  and  the  "  powers  "  reaffirmed  the  reser- 
vation. Other  kindred  provisions  were  these  :  The  lot  No. 
29  in  each  township  or  fractional  part  of  a  township  to  be  given 
perpetually  for  the  purposes  of  religion.  Not  more  than  two 
complete  townships  to  be  given  perpetually  for  the  purposes  of 
a  university,  to  be  laid  off  by  the  purchaser  or  purchasers,  as 
near  the  centre  as  may  be,  so  that  the  same  shall  be  of  good 
land,  to  be  applied  to  the  intended  object  by  the  legislature 
of  the  State.  These  two  townships  of  land  are  the  endow- 
ment of  the  Ohio  University  at  Athens.  Once  more,  it  was 
in  consequence  of  the  Ordinance  and  the  purchase  that  Mari- 
etta, the  first  colony  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  was  planted 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  April  7,  1788. 

No  act  of  American  legislation  has  called  out  more  elo- 
quent applause  than  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  Statesmen,  his- 
torians, and  jurists  have  vied  with  one  another  in  celebrating 
its  praises.  In  one  respect  it  has  a  proud  pre-eminence  over 
all  other  acts  of  legislation  on  the  American  statute-books.  It 
alone  is  known  by  the  date  of  its  enactment,  and  not  by  its 


THE  ORDINANCE   OF   1787.  277 

subject-matter.  It  was  more  than  a  law  or  statute.  It  was  a 
constitution  for  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio. 
More  than  this,  it  was  a  model  for  later  legislation  relating  to 
the  national  territories ;  and  some  of  its  provisions,  particu- 
larly the  prohibition  of  slavery,  stand  among  the  greatest  prec- 
edents of  our  history.  The  sixth  compact  was  the  old-time 
platform  of  the  Republican  Party  previous  to  1861. 

The  record  of  the  vote  on  the  Ordinance  shows  eighteen 
delegates  present  in  Congress.  As  we  look  over  the  list,  we 
are  surprised  to  see  how  few  of  them  have  any  place  in  his- 
tory. 

Massachusetts,  Holten  and  Dane ;  New  York,  Smith, 
Harring,  and  Yates ;  New  Jersey,  Clark  and  Scheurman ; 
Delaware,  Kearny  and  Mitchell ;  Virginia,  Grayson,  Lee,  and 
Carrington ;  North  Carolina,  Blount  and  Hawkins ;  South 
Carolina,  Kean  and  Huger ;  Georgia,  Few  and  Pierce.  We 
must  remember,  however,  that  the  Old  Congress  was  not 
now  what  once  it  had  been ;  also  that  the  Federal  Convention 
was  sitting  at  Philadelphia,  and  that  Franklin,  Sherman, 
King,  Hamilton,  the  Morrises,  Madison,  Rutledge,  the  Pinck- 
neys,  Randolph,  Wilson,  and  Washington  were  in  attendance 
there.  The  ease  with  which  the  Ohio  Company  carried  its 
proposition  through  Congress  has  been  the  subject  of  sur- 
prise for  a  hundred  years.  No  doubt  the  explanation  con- 
sists largely  in  the  fact  that  the  new  colony  was  proposed  by 
a  body  of  men  fully  able  to  make  it  successful.  Contrasting 
it  with  earlier  propositions,  Mr.  Bancroft  says : 

"  For  vague  hopes  of  colonization,  here  stood  a  body  of 
hardy  pioneers,  ready  to  lead  the  way  to  the  rapid  absorption 
of  the  domestic  debt  of  the  United  States  ;  selected  from  the 
choicest  regiments  of  the  army  ;  capable  of  self-defence ;  the 
protectors  of  all  who  should  follow  them  ;  men  skilled  in  the 
labors  of  the  field  and  of  artisans ;  enterprising  and  laborious  ; 
trained  in  the  severe  morality  and  strict  orthodoxy  of  the  New 
England  villages  of  that  day.  All  was  changed.  There  was 
the  same  difference  as  between  sending  out  recruiting  officers 


2/8  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

and  giving  marching  orders   to  a  regular  corps   present  with 
music  and  arms  and  banners."  ' 

But,  after  all,  one  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  silence 
and  celerity  with  which  the  Ordinance  was  enacted  was 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Federal  Convention  was  in 
session.  Men's  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  statesmen  who  were 
discussing  in  secret  the  National  Constitution  ;  and  Grayson 
and  Lee  and  Carrington  and  Dane,  assisted  by  Manasseh 
Cutler,  were  left  with  fourteen  men,  all  but  one  of  whom 
were  willing  to  follow  them,  to  enact  in  serenity  and  stillness 
an  ordinance  of  government  that  might  not  have  been  se- 
cured if  New  York  and  not  Philadelphia  had  been  the  focus 
of  public  attention.  The  year  1787  is  thus  doubly  memor- 
able ;  it  gave  us  the  Ordinance  for  the  Territory  Northwest 
of  the  River  Ohio,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"Peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  war  ; " 

and  History  may  yet  adjudge  that  year  the  greatest  in  our 
annals. 

NOTE. — Hitherto  Mr.  W.  F.  Poole's  article,  "  Dr.  Cutler  and 
the  Ordinance  of  1787,"  in  the  North  American  Review,  No.  251, 
has  been  the  best  single  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Ordinance 
of  1787,  and  particularly  of  the  part  that  Dr.  Cutler  played  in 
its  enactment.  But  now  a  much  fuller  account  may  be  found 
in  the  "  Life,  Journals,  and  Correspondence  of  Rev.  Manasseh 
Cutler,  LL.D."  This  work  will  immediately  take  rank  with 
the  "  St.  Clair  Papers,"  as  a  contribution  to  Northwestern 
history.  The  circumstances  leading  up  to  the  organization  of 
the  Ohio  Company  and  the  planting  of  Marietta,  are  narrated 
with  great  fulness  and  particularity.  Much  the  best  account 
extant  of  the  Scioto  purchase  will  also  be  found  in  this  work. 
This  purchase  was  "  the  private  speculation  in  which  many  of 

J  History,  VL,  285. 


THE  ORDINANCE  OF   1787.  279 

the  principal  characters  of  America  are  concerned,"  that  Cutler 
was  compelled  to  include  in  his  proposition  to  Congress  before 
he  could  buy  the  lands  that  he  wanted  for  the  Ohio  Associates. 
The  Scioto  purchase  was  purely  a  speculation,  projected  by 
Colonel  William  Duer,  and  proved  to  be  very  disastrous  to  all 
concerned. 


XVI. 

THE    TERRITORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 
NORTHWEST  OF  THE   RIVER   OHIO. 

THE  region  beyond  the  Ohio  that  the  Virginia  troops  and 
the  American  Commissioners  at  Paris  wrested  from  England, 
that  the  four  States  ceded  to  the  Nation,  and  that  Congress 
constituted  a  district  for  the  purposes  of  government  in  1787, 
of  itself  is  a  noble  physical  base  for  an  empire.  It  contains 
265,878'  square  miles  of  land  to  Austria-Hungary's  240,943, 
Germany's  212,091,  France's  209,091,  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land's 120,874,  and  Italy's  114,296.  Triangular  in  form,  its 
sides  are  washed  by  about  three  thousand  miles  of  navigable 
waters.  The  Great  Lakes,  one  of  which  reaches  its  very  cen- 
tre, contain  nearly  one-half  the  fresh  water  of  the  globe.  The 
volume  of  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  is  equal  to  that  of 
three  Ganges,  of  nine  Rhones,  of  twenty-seven  Seines,  or 
eighty  Tibers,  or  of  all  the  rivers  of  Europe,  exclusive  of  the 
Volga.*  The  Ohio,  one  thousand  miles  in  length,  is  one  of 

1  The  territory  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio  contained  an  area  of  265,878 
square  miles,  and  from  it  were  formed  and  now  lie  in  its  original  territory — 

Square  Miles. 

The  State  of  Ohio 3f>f  64 

"  Indiana 33>8«9 

"  Illinois _,...— 55»4i4 

"  Michigan i^X  . .  .\ 56,451 

"  Wisconsin 53»924 

"  Minnesota,  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  international  . , 

boundary  of  1783,  estimated  to  contain 26,000 

"  Erie  Purchase  (in  Pennsylvania)  about 316 

Grand  Total,  170,161,867  acres. — Donaldson:  The  Public  Domain,  161. 
3  Carnegie  :  Triumphant  Democracy,  301. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     281 

the  largest  affluents  of  the  Mississippi.  The  rivers  flowing 
to  these  three  water-ways  render  every  part  of  the  interior  of 
the  Northwest  easily  accessible ;  and  some  of  them,  as  the 
Wabash,  the  Illinois,  and  the  Wisconsin,  are  small  streams 
only  because  they  appear  in  such  noble  company.  The  sur- 
face is  exceedingly  favorable  to  the  construction  of  canals  and 
railroads;  and  such  are  the  geographical  relations  of  the  re- 
gion to  the  remaining  parts  of  the  country  that  it  gathers  in 
its  grasp  nearly  all  the  great  lines  of  transportation  and  travel 
uniting  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  With 
a  very  large  proportion  of  arable  land  unsurpassed  in  fertility 
and  adapted  to  a  wide  range  of  productions  ;  rich  in  forests  of 
hard  and  soft  woods  ;  the  waters  abounding  in  fish ;  abundant 
in  coal,  iron,  and  lead,  copper,  oil,  gas,  and  salt,  it  is  the  fit 
home  of  the  great  people  who  are  making  its  history. 

On  July  13,  1787,  this  great  domain  was  an  unbroken 
wilderness.  By  far  the  larger  number  of  the  few  inhabitants 
were  savages,  who  were  resolved  that  the  wilderness  should 
remain  unbroken.  Passing  by  the  roving  hunters  and  traders, 
the  few  Americans  then  making  a  small  beginning  at  New  De- 
sign on  the  Mississippi,  and  the  occasional  Moravian  mis>-- 
sionaries,  the  French  colonists,  not  five  thousand  in  number,' 
were  the  only  civilized  population.  As  Michigan  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  British,  the  habitants  of  the  Illinois  and  the 
Wabash,  who  had  practically  been  without  government  since 
1784,  were  the  only  people  on  the  ground  calling  for  a  gov- 
ernment. However,  the  Territory  was  not  established  for  the 
resident  population.  A  new  colonial  period  was  opening, 
promising  grander  results  than  the  old  one.  The  Ordinance 
of  1787  and  the  Powers  to  the  Board  of  Treasury  take  rank 
with  the  colonial  charters  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  be- 
fore. The  magnificent  territory  that  the  Indian  had  for  cen- 
turies put  to  uses  but  little  superior  to  those  of  the  buffalo, 
the  bear,  and  the  wolf ;  that  the  Frenchman  had  used  for  pur- 
poses but  little  higher  than  those  of  the  Indian  ;  and  that  the 
Englishman  had  refused  to  use  at  all,  was  now  to  be  devoted 


282  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

to  the  greatest  of  human  objects — was  now  to  become  the 
homes  of  a  progressive  people  excelling  in  all  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized life. 

The  apex  of  the  Northwestern  triangle  points  to  the  east ; 
two  of  its  sides  face  the  Atlantic  slope ;  but  causes  now  to 
be  pointed  out  made  the  Ohio  River  the  seat  of  the  earliest 
settlements. 

The  census-takers  of  1790  found  in  the  United  States  a  pop- 
ulation of  3,929,214  souls,  and  the  number  was  not  much  less 
in  1788.  All  of  this  population,  save  about  five  per  cent.,  was 
distributed  along  the  seaboard  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  pre- 
senting an  average  depth  of  settlement,  in  a  direction  at  right 
angles  to  the  coast,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  miles.  This 
was  the  population  that  the  Northwest  was  first  to  draw  upon ; 
for  the  days  of  European  emigration  had  not  then  dawned. 

General  Walker,  the  superintendent  of  the  tenth  census, 
has  pointed  out  that,  in  the  early  census-years,  population 
moved  westward  along  four  main  lines  :  (i)  Through  Central 
New  York,  following  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  River;  (2) 
across  Southern  Pennsylvania,  Western  Maryland,  and  North- 
ern Virginia,  parallel  to  and  along  the  course  of  the  Upper 
Pojtomac;  (3)  southward  down  the__ Valley  of  Virginia,  and 
through  the  mountain-gaps  into  Tennessee  and  Kentucky; 
(4)  around  the  southern  end  of  the  mountains,  through  Geor- 
gia and  Alabama.1  These  movements  were  along  the  original 
lines  of  communication,  surveyed  by  Nature  ages  before  man 
appeared  on  the  continent.  The  Great  Lakes  lie  in  the  first 
of  these  directions,  and  they  afterward  became  a  main 
thoroughfare  of  emigration  ;  but,  at  the  time  of  which  we 
write,  no  road  had  been  cut  through  the  wilderness  of  Western 
New  York  to  Lake  Erie,  and  as  late  as  1796  the  surveyors  of 
the  Connecticut  Land  Company  reached  that  lake  by  the 
Wood  Creek  portage,  Lake  Ontario,  and  the  Niagara  portage. 


1  Statistics  of  the  Population  of  the  United  States  at  the  Tenth  Census,  June 
30,  1880,  xiii 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     283 

Nor  had  population  then  advanced  on  this  line  west  of  the 
interior  New  York  lakes.  Besides,  the  country  above.  th_e 
head  of  Lake  Erie  was  in  the  possession  of  England,  and  her 
garrison  at  Detroit  would  have  turned  back  adventurous 
pioneers  as  promptly  as  Du  Lhut  turned  back  the  Dutch 
traders  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Furthermore, 
the  Lake  Basin  was  thought  less  inviting  than  the  Ohio  Valley. 
On  the  second  line,  the  situation  was  very  different.  In  the 
French  War  two  practicable  roads  were  built  over  the  moun- 
tains :  The  Braddock  Road,  cut  through  from  the  Upper  Po- 
tomac in  1755,  and  the  Forbes  Road  of  1758.  These  two 
roads  connected  the  Ohio  with  tide-water,  one  at  Philadelphia 
and  the  other  at  Alexandria.  Accordingly,  when  the  advent- 
urer or  the  pioneer  had  once  reached  the  Monongahela  or  the 
Alleghany,  the  whole  West  lay  open  before  him,  and  he  had 
but  to  descend  the  "  beautiful  Ohio  "  to  his  chosen  destination. 
Then,  in  the  years  just  preceding  the  Revolution,  Finley, 
Harrod,  and  Boone  had  discovered  the  natural  highway  lead- 
ing from  the  mountain-gaps  near  the  southern  line  of  Vir- 
ginia to  the  fairest  region  of  Kentucky.  Moreover,  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Ohio  Valley  to  the  country  east  and  south  were 
such  that  it  necessarily  received  the  full  streams  of  popu- 
lation which  the  second  and  third  of  these  channels  soon 
began  to  discharge.  In  fact,  settlers  moving  west  by  these 
two  roads  had  reached  the  bank  of  the  Ohio  River  at  points 
as  distant  as  the  Forks  and  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky 
before  the  Massachusetts  men  had  thought  of  an  Ohio  col- 
ony at  all. 

The  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of  1790  not  found 
on  the  Atlantic  Plain  was  distributed  in  little  islands  almost 
lost  in  the  wilderness-ocean  of  the  West.  Four  of  these  is- 
lands lay  on  the  border  of  the  new  Territory.  The  first,  con- 
taining 63,21 8  people,  was  in  Southwestern  Pennsylvania;  the 
second  and  third,  containing  together  55,873,  were  in  Western 
Virginia,  clustered  around  Wheeling  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Kanawha ;  the  fourth  was  in  Kentucky,  below  the  Licking 


284  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

River,  and  contained  73,677  souls.  From  the  close  of  King 
George's  War,  when  the  colonies  began  to  awaken  to  their 
Western  interests,  the  Virginians  had  surpassed  all  their  com- 
petitors in  Western  enterprise  ;  but  they  were  closely  followed 
by  the  Marylanders  and  Pennsylvanians  on  the  north  and 
the  Carolinians  on  the  south.  These  causes  together  explain 
the  sources  of  the  four  clusters  of  settlements  found  south  of 
the  Ohio  River  in  1790.  Nearly  all  of  the  settlers,  excluding 
those  born  on  the  soil,  came  from  those  parts  of  the  country 
east  of  the  mountains,  south  of  New  York  and  north  of  South 
Carolina.  A  man  living  in  1787,  possessing  all  these  facts,  and 
also  observing  the  great  relative  disadvantage  of  New  Eng- 
land in  the  Western  competition,  growing  out  of  her  remote- 
ness from  the  scene  of  operations  and  of  the  indisposition  of 
her  orderly  population  to  fall  into  the  channels  of  emigration, 
should  have  been  able  to  indicate  the  principal  sources  of  the 
population  that,  in  the  first  period  of  its  history,  flowed  into 
the  country  beyond  the  River  Ohio.  We  shall  soon  find  the 
facts  of  history  justifying  the  prophecy  that  this  remark  im- 
plies. 

In  one  sense  the  whole  Northwest  below  the  head  of  Lake 
Erie  was  open  to  the  Ohio  Company  of  Associates  in  1787, 
but,  practically,  only  the  Ohio  Valley.  It  made  choice  of  lands 
on  both  sides  of  the  Muskingum,  but  mainly  below  that  stream. 
Three  men  appear  to  have  controlled  the  location.  In  1785 
General  Benjamin  Tupper,  one  of  the  State  surveyors  under 
the  land-ordinance  of  that  year,  came  west  as  far  as  Pitts- 
burg,  where  he  was  stopped  by  the  Indian  hostilities  then 
raging.  But  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Western  vision, 
and  he  returned  to  New  England,  his  imagination  filled  with 
pictures  of  Western  possibilities.  The  same  year  General  Sam- 
uel Holden  Parsons,  a  Revolutionary  veteran,  descended  the 
Ohio  to  the  Falls  ;  he,  also,  returned  on  fire  with  Western  en- 
thusiasm. The  reports  made  to  their  old  comrades  in  the 
East  by  Tupper  and  Parsons  furnished  much  of  the  motive 
power  that  kept  the  new-colony  enterprise  moving,  as  well 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     285 

as  tended  to  fix  its  seat  on  the  Ohio  rather  than  on  Lake  Erie. 
Thomas  Hutchins,  the  Geographer  of  the  United  States,  who 
probably  had  a  more  definite  knowledge  of  the  West  than 
any  other  man  living  at  the  time,  determined  its  precise  loca- 
tion. He  advised  Cutler,  to  whom  he  was  introduced  in 
New  York,  to  choose  the  Muskingum,  which  he  considered 
the  most  favorable  location  in  the  West  for  the  purposes  of 
the  company,  and  his  advice  was  decisive.  The  choice  was 
the  more  fortunate  for*  the  reason  that  Fort  Harmar — a  fort 
large  enough  to  receive  a  garrison  a  regiment  strong,  built  at 
the  confluence  of  the  two  streams  to  protect  passengers  on  the 
Ohio,  to  overawe  the  Indians,  and  to  furnish  armed  escorts 
for  the  surveyors  at  work  on  the  seven  ranges — had  been  com- 
pleted in  the  spring  of  1786.  The  contract,  signed  by  Samuel 
Osgood  and  Arthur  Lee,  of  the  Board  of  Treasury,  for  the 
United  States,  and  by  Manasseh  Cutler  and  Winthrop  Sar- 
gent for  the  company,  bounded  the  purchase,  east  by  the  sev- 
enth range  of  townships,  south  by  the  Ohio,  west  by  the 
eighteenth  range,  and  north  by  an  east  and  west  line  far 
enough  back  from  the  Ohio  to  include  1,500,000  acres  of  land. 
Five  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  paid  at  the  date  of  the 
contract.  The  company  not  being  able  to  pay  the  second 
moiety,  further  legislation  was  had,  which  reduced  the  quan- 
tity of  land  actually  patented,  not  including  reservations,  to 
1,064,285  acres.1 

How  well  matured  were  the  plans  of  the  Associates  is 
shown  by  the .  fact  that  the  advanced  guard  of  the  colony 
reached  the  Youghiogheny,  January  23,  and  the  second 
division,  February  14,  1788.  Here  they  built  boats  for  de- 
scending the  Ohio  on  the  opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring. 
From  the  deck  of  a  row-galley,  appropriately  named  the  May- 
flower, General  Rufus  Putnam,  a  hero  of  two  wars  and  one  of 
the  prominent  promoters  of  the  colony,  stepped  to  the  bank 
of  the  Muskingum,  April  7,  1788.  Forty-seven  other  sons  of 

1  Andrews :  Washington  County  and  the  Early  Settlement  of  Ohio,  16-18. 


286  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

New  England  landed  at  the  same  time.  Felling  trees,  build- 
ing houses,  laying  out  a  city,  and  the  erection  of  a  stockade, 
called  "  Campus  Martius,"  began  at  once.  In  the  course  of 
the  year  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  men,  including  fifteen 
families,  arrived.  This  was  a  modest  and  unpretentious  be- 
ginning, but,  with  the  pressure  of  General  Putnam's  foot  on 
this  new  soil,  the  present  order  of  things  in  the  old  North- 
west began. 

Meantime,  the  steps  necessary  to  the  setting  up  of  the  new 
government  were  being  taken.  On  October  5,  1787,  Congress 
elected  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  governor,  and  Winthrop 
Sargent  secretary,  of  the  new  Territory ;  afterward  Samuel 
Holden  Parsons,  James  M.  Varnum,  and  John  Cleves 
Symmes  were  chosen  judges.  St.  Clair  was  a  veteran  soldier 
of  both  the  French  and  Revolutionary  Wars,  a  trained  civilian 
and  an  accomplished  gentleman,  a  sterling  patriot,  a  friend  of 
Washington,  and  president  of  Congress  at  the  passage  of  the 
Ordinance.  A  Scotchman  by  birth,  he  had  come  out  an 
officer  in  one  of  the  British  regiments  in  the  time  of  the 
French  War ;  he  was  a  lieutenant  under  Wolfe  at  Quebec ; 
and  made  Western  Pennsylvania  his  home  soon  after  the 
coming  of  peace.  We  have  already  met  him  in  that  region  in 
the  troublous  times  that  preceded  the  Revolution.  Secretary 
Sargent  was  from  Massachusetts,  and  a  man  of  many  abilities 
and  accomplishments ;  soldier,  civilian,  a  member  of  learned 
societies,  and  a  poet.  Parsons  was  from  Connecticut,  and  Var- 
num from  Rhode  Island ;  both  were  distinguished  soldiers 
and  able  lawyers.  Judge  Symmes  was  Chief  Justice  of  New 
Jersey  at  the  time  of  his  appointment.  Parsons  and  Varnum 
soon  died,  and  their  places  were  taken  by  George  Turner  and 
Rufus  Putnam. 

Independence  Day  was  duly  celebrated  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Muskingum ;  and  the  expectant  state  of  the  colony,  as 
well  as  the  grandiose  eloquence  sometimes  indulged  in  by  the 
Revolutionary  orators,  is  well  illustrated  by  this  extract  from 
the  oration  delivered  by  Judge  Varnum  : 


TERRITORY    NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     287 

"We  mutually  lament  that  the  absence  of  his  Excellency 
will  not  permit  us,  upon  this  joyous  occasion,  to  make  those 
grateful  assurances  of  sincere  attachments,  which  bind  us  to 
him  by  the  noblest  motives  that  can  animate  an  enlightened 
people.  May  he  soon  arrive.  Thou  gently  flowing  Ohio, 
whose  surface,  as  conscious  of  thy  unequaled  majesty,  reflecteth 
no  images  but  the  grandeur  of  the  impending  heaven,  bear 
him,  oh,  bear  him  safely  to  this  anxious  spot !  And  thou, 
beautiful,  transparent  Muskingum,  swell  at  the  moment  of  his 
approach,  and  reflect  no  objects  but  of  pleasure  and  delight."  ] 

Governor  St.  Clair  landed  at  the  Muskingum  bank,  July 
9th,  and  was  received  with  appropriate  civic  and  military 
honors;  the  I5th  of  the  same  month,  attended  by  Secretary 
Sargent  and  Judges  Parsons  and  Varnum,  he  made  his  public 
entry  at  the  bower,  in  the  city,  where  he  was  received  by 
General  Putnam,  at  the  head  of  the  citizens,  "with  the 
most  sincere  and  universal  congratulations."  The  Governor 
made  a  short  address;  Secretary  Sargent  read  the  Ordi- 
nance and  the  commissions  of  the  officers.  The  Governor 
then  made  a  longer  address.  The  citizens  applauded,  the 
concourse  broke  up,  the  wheels  of  government  began  to  re- 
volve, and  civil  life  began. 

On  July  26th  the  Governor  created  Washington  County, 
the  oldest  county  in  the  Northwest ;  and  a  little  later  ap- 
pointed magistrates  and  established  a  Court  of  Quarter  Ses- 
sions. The  Judiciary  was  formally  inaugurated,  September 
2d,  with  impressive  ceremonies.  A  procession  marched  from 
Fort  Harmar  to  one  of  the  block-houses  of  Campus  Martius, 
where  the  judges  took  their  seats  on  the  high  bench ;  Dr. 
Manasseh  Cutler,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  the  colony,  offered  a 
fitting  prayer ;  the  commissions  of  the  judges  and  officers 
of  the  court  were  read  ;  and  then,  with  the  sheriff's  proclama- 
tion, "O,  yes!  a  court  is  open  for  the  administration  of  even- 
handed  justice  to  the  poor  and  the  rich,  to  the  guilty  and 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  I.,  139. 


288  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  innocent,  without  respect  of  persons ;  none  to  be  punished 
without  trial  by  their  peers,  and  then  in  pursuance  of  the  laws 
and  evidence  in  the  case" — the  judicial  history  of  the  Territory 
began.  Paul  Fearing  was  admitted  as  an  attorney,  the  first 
lawyer  in  the  Northwest. 

Such,  briefly  told,  is  the  story  of  the  founding  of  Marietta, 
named  for  the  unfortunate  Marie  Antoinette,  and  the  institu- 
tion of  civil  government  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  Not  even 
the  Pilgrim  colony  of  1620  was  made  up  of  better  elements. 
At  the  distance  of  a  century,  no  fitter  eulogy  upon  the  men 
who  constituted  it  can  be  given  than  Washington's :  "  No  col- 
ony in  America  was  ever  settled  under  such  favorable  auspices 
as  that  which  has  just  commenced  at  the  Muskingum.  In- 
formation, property,  and  strength  will  be  its  characteristics. 
I  know  many  of  the  settlers  personally,  and  there  were  never 
men  better  calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of  such  a  com- 
munity." '  The  difference  between  French  and  American 
colonization  in  the  Northwest  is  strikingly  shown  by  two 
simple  facts:  On  April  7,  1788,  the  village  of  Saut  Ste  Marie 
was  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old ;  Marietta  will  not 
have  reached  a  century  until  April  7,  1888. 

Another  land-purchase,  second  only  to  that  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  was  made  in  1787 — the  Miami  purchase  or  Symmes 
Tract  of  one  million  acres,  lying  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio 
between  the  two  Miami  Rivers."  Three  colonies  were  planted 
in  this  tract  in  the  year  1788  :  Columbia,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Little  Miami ;  Losantiville,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Lick- 
ing River;  and  North  Bend,  at  the  farthest  northern  sweep 
of  the  Ohio  west  of  the  Kanawha.  For  a  time  every  one  of 
these  settlements  aspired  to  the  leadership  ;  but  the  second, 
founded  December  24,  1788,  having  been  chosen  as  the  seat 
of  a  military  post,  and  also  as  the  county  seat  of  Hamilton 
County,  rebaptized  by  St.  Clair  Cincinnati,  a  name  borrowed 


'Sparks:  Writings  of  Washington,  IX.,  385. 

8  The  tract  was  not  paid  for,  and  only  about  one-third  was  patented. 


X 
TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     289 

from  the  celebrated  society  of  Revolutionary  officers  of 
which  he  was  a  prominent  member,  soon  outstripped  both  its 
competitors.  Here  lived  the  Governor,  and  here  sat  the  first 
Territorial  Legislature.  Still,  its  growth  was  slow  ;  and  when 
Judge  Burnet  first  saw  it,  in  1796,  it  gave  faint  promise  of 
becoming  what  it  now  is  in  name,  and  what  it  long  was  in 
fact,  the  Queen  City  of  the  West.  The  buildings  were  few 
and  poor;  the  population,  including  the  garrison,  was  about 
six  hundred  ;  and  the  social  habits  of  the  place  anything  but 
commendable.1 

Those  philosophers  who  trace  all  historical  phenomena  to 
physical  causes  may  read  a  suggestive  lesson  in  the  history  of 
the  Miami  purchase.  The  location  of  North  Bend  is  as  favor- 
able as  that  of  Cincinnati.  It  was  the  home  of  Judge  Symmes, 
and  the  first  station  of  the  troops  detailed  by  General  Har- 
mar  to  protect  the  Miami  pioneers.  Unfortunately,  before  a 
permanent  fortification  was  constructed  the  commanding  of- 
ficer of  the  troops  became  enamored  of  the  black-eyed  wife 
of  one  of  the  settlers.  The  jealous  husband's  removal  to 
Cincinnati  led  to  the  prompt  discovery,  on  the  part  of  the 
officer,  of  the  superior  military  advantages  of  that  location ; 
whence  resulted  not  the  walls  of  lofty  Rome,  but  the  walls  of 
Fort  Washington  and  the  ascendancy  of  the  town  named  for 
the  Cincinnati. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Muskingum  colony,  a  very  large 
number  of  the  Miami  settlers  had  seen  service  in  the  War  of 
Independence.  They  were  from  no  single  locality,  but  Middle 
States  men  seem  to  have  predominated — some  of  the  most 
prominent  from  New  Jersey.  The  Virginia  Military  District, 
embracing  six  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  square 
miles  of  the  fairest  part  of  Ohio,  became  the  seat  of  a  third 
group  of  settlements,  the  founders  of  which  came  from  Vir- 
ginia. These  were  later,  mainly  owing  to  the  Indian  War, 
than  the  settlements  of  the  Ohio  and  Miami  purchases.  Gen- 

1  Burnet  :  Notes  on  the  Settlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  35  et  seq. 


290  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

eral  Nathaniel  Massie  and  Duncan  McArthur,  afterward  Gov- 
ernor of  Ohio,  laid  out  the  town  of  Chillicothe,  soon  made 
the  capital  of  Ross  County,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Scioto,  in 
1796.  These  Virginia  colonies  drew  to  themselves  numbers 
of  very  able  men,  and  they  exercised  a  marked  influence  upon 
the  nascent  society  of  the  Northwest,  and  particularly  of 
Ohio. 

The  Virginia  Military  District  is  often  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve.  Beyond  the 
fact  that  both  were  reservations,  they  have  no  points  of  like- 
ness and  many  of  unlikeness ;  Virginia's  reservation  was  condi- 
tional and  special,  Connecticut's  absolute  and  general. 

Virginia  voted  her  soldiers  upon  continental  and  State  es- 
tablishment liberal  land-bounties.  She  also  set  apart  for  this 
purpose  the  lands  bounded  by  Green  River,  Cumberland 
Mountains,  the  Tennessee  line  and  Tennessee  River,  and  the 
Ohio.  In  her  act  and  deed  of  cession  of  the  Northwest,  Vir- 
ginia stipulated  that,  in  case  these  lands  should  prove  insuffi- 
cient for  the  purpose,  the  deficiency  should  be  made  up  to  the 
said  troops  in  good  lands,  to  be  laid  off  between  the  Rivers 
Scioto  and  Little  Miami.  The  Cumberland  lands  did  prove  in- 
sufficient for  the  purpose.  Congress  having  been  apprised  of 
this  fact,  it  passed  a  law  in  1790  directing  the  Secretary  of  War 
to  make  return  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia  of  the  names  of  the 
Virginia  officers  and  men  entitled  to  bounty-lands,  and  the 
amount  in  acres  due  them.  The  same  act  authorized  the  agents 
of  the  said  troops  to  locate  and  survey  for  their  use,  between  the 
two  rivers,  apparently  in  the  old  Virginia  fashion,  such  a  number 
of  acres  of  land  as,  together  with  the  number  already  located 
on  the  waters  of  the  Cumberland,  would  make  the  amount  to 
which  they  were  entitled ;  these  locations  and  surveys  to  be 
recorded,  together  with  the  names  of  those  for  whom  they 
were  made,  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The 
President  was  then  directed  to  issue  letters  patent  for  these 
lands  to  the  persons  entitled  to  them,  for  their  use  or  the  use 
of  their  heirs,  assigns,  or  legal  representatives.  The  Secretary 


HAP  ILLUSTRATING  XAND  SURVEYS  IN  OHIO, 

WITH  EARLY  POSTS  AND  SETTLEMENTS. 

Mtaptedfrom  Colonel  Charles  TVTiittlesey's-Tract'Jfo.61,  TfaternJReserve 
andJfartJiern.  Ohio  Jlistvrical  Society. 


292  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

of  State  should  forward  these  deeds  to  the  Executive  of  Vir- 
ginia, to  be  delivered  to  the  proper  persons.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  national  Government  issued  the  deeds,  but  did  not 
make  the  surveys.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Dr. 
Andrews  should  speak  of  the  "  no  system  "  surveys  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  District,  and  that  Colonel  Whittlesey  should 
characterize  the  private  surveys  as  "  so  loose  as  to  be  entirely 
useless  for  geographical  purposes."  Early  in  the  history  of 
the  locations  and  surveys  a  dispute  arose  as  to  the  Western 
boundary  of  the  Virginia  District.  The  United  States  held 
that  it  should  be  the  Little  Miami  and  a  line  drawn  from  the 
source  of  that  stream  to  the  source  of  the  Scioto  ;  Virginia 
contended  for  a  straight  line  drawn  from  the  mouth  of  the 
one  river  to  the  source  of  the  other.  The  first  is  called 
"  Roberts's  line  ;  "  the  second,  "  Ludlow's  line."  Roberts's  line 
was  virtually  established  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  1824.  No  question  of  jurisdiction  concerning  this  District 
ever  arose  between  Virginia  and  the  United  States.  In  1852 
Virginia  released  to  the  United  States  all  lands  in  the  Dis- 
trict not  already  located,  in  consideration  of  Congress  having 
provided  other  lands  for  such  of  the  Virginia  claims  as  were 
not  yet  satisfied.  In  1871  Congress  ceded  such  of  these  lands 
as  remained  unappropriated,  amounting  to  76,735  acres,  ap- 
praised at  $74,287,  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  the  State,  in 
turn,  ceded  them  to  the  State  University.1 

In  fulfilment  of  its  promises  made  in  the  course  of  the 
war,  the  national  Government  set  apart  a  large  tract  for  land- 
bounties  lying  south  of  Wayne's  treaty  line,  west  of  the  seven 
ranges,  and  east  of  the  Scioto  River.  This  tract,  known  as 
the  United  States  Bounty  Lands,  embraces  about  four  thou- 
sand square  miles. 

As  a  separate  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  Western  Re- 
serve, it  will  not  be  noticed  here,  beyond  the  remark  that  it 
the  fourth  centre  of  early  colonization  within  the  limits 


1  Donaldson  :  The  Public  Domain,  233,  234. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     293 

of  Ohio.  Passing  by  some  small  tracts  dedicated  to  various 
objects,  the  remaining  lands  within  the  present  limits  of  Ohio 
were  known  as  "  Congress  lands,"  because  surveyed  and  sold 
under  its  authority. 

In  Indiana  and  Illinois  the  French  towns  were  the  cen- 
tres of  the  new  settlements.  Kentucky  and  Ohio  were  at 
first  naturally  preferred  by  emigrants,  and  the  growth  of 
the  two  States  beyond  them  was  for  many  years  exceed- 
ingly slow.  Governor  Reynolds,  who  made  his  home  in  Illi- 
nois in  1800,  found  in  that  State  a  white  population  of  two 
thousand  persons,  one  thousand  two  hundred  habitants  and 
eight  hundred  Americans.1  These  people  were  scattered  along 
the  Mississippi  River  from  Kaskaskia  to  Cahokia,  with  a  few 
about  Peoria.  Moreover,  the  emigration  to  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois, in  the  first  period,  was  almost  wholly  from  the  South. 
They  lay  not  only  within  the  current  of  emigration  that 
poured  down  the  Ohio  Valley,  but  also  within  the  stream  of 
the  one  which  passed  through  the  gaps  of  the  Cumberland 
Mountains  and  swept  northwestward  across  the  States  of 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Many  of  these  emigrants  were  na- 
tive Tennesseeans  and  Kentuckians.  Mr.  Washburne  tells  us 
that  the  Kentucky  emigration  was  by  far  the  best,  and  that 
the  North  Carolinians  who  came  to  Illinois  were  mostly 
"  poor  whites."'* 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1790  Governor  St.  Clair  made 
a  lengthy  visit  to  the  habitants  of  the  Wabash  and  the  Missis- 
sippi. Writing  to  the  Secretary  of  War  from  Cahokia,  May 
ist,  he  tells  a  moving  tale  of  their  condition.  "  They  are  the 
most  ignorant  people  in  the  world  ; "  "  there  is  not  a  fiftieth 
man  that  can  either  read  or  write;"  though  ignorant,  they  are 
the  gentlest  and  best  disposed  people  that  can  be  imagined  ; 
the  distress  at  Vincennes  and  on  the  Mississippi  is  extreme.* 
In  a  long  and  very  interesting  report  to  the  President,  the 


1  My  Own  Times,  20.  *  Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,  69. 

8  St.  Clair  Papers,  II.,  136-140. 


294  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Governor  describes  their  situation  still  more  fully.  With  great 
cheerfulness  the  people  had  furnished  Clark's  command  with 
everything  they  could  spare,  "  and  often  with  much  more  than 
they  could  spare  with  any  convenience  to  themselves ; "  "  most 
of  the  certificates  for  these  supplies  are  still  in  their  hands,  un- 
liquidated and  unpaid  ; "  following  the  conquest,  "  a  set  of  men 
pretending  the  authority  of  Virginia  embodied  themselves, 
and  a  scene  of  general  depredation  and  plunder  ensued ;"  "  to 
this  succeeded  three  successive  and  extraordinary  inundations 
from  the  Mississippi,  which  either  swept  away  their  crops  or 
prevented  their  being  planted ; "  all  this  was  followed  by  the 
decline  of  the  Indian  trade,  hostile  Indian  incursions,  and  the 
loss  of  the  last  corn  crop  by  an  untimely  frost.  That  the 
terms  of  the  Virginia  Cession  might  be  kept,  and  the  public 
domain  also  be  protected,  Congress  had  directed  surveys  of 
the  Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes  lands  to  be  made  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  claimants,  a  charge  the  Governor  found  them  ill 
able  to  meet.1  Father  Gibault,  who  had  rendered  the  Ameri- 
can cause  such  great  services  in  the  days  of  the  invasion,  laid 
before  St.  Clair  a  memorial  in  behalf  of  his  people  that 
arouses  one's  pity. 

Since  1763,  and  even  since  the  time  of  Clark's  arrival  in 
the  Illinois,  the  settlements  had  materially  declined.  The 
character  of  the  government  in  the  Virginia  period  is  plainly 
hinted  by  St.  Clair ;  while  in  the  six  years  following  the  ces- 
sion, although  the  people  kept  calling  upon  Congress  for  re- 
lief, there  was  no  government  at  all.  It  was  found  very  diffi- 
cult to  adjust  these  decaying  French  communities — mere 
patches  of  the  Middle  Ages — to  the  aggressive  life  that  ulti- 
mately overwhelmed  them.  For  example  they  had,  from  the 
first  settlement  of  the  country,  enclosed  their  small  farms  by 
common  fences.  There  was  great  lack  of  surveys  and  rec- 
ords, and  so  of  titles.  The  accumulated  difficulties  that  grew 
out  of  such  arrangements  were  in  time  referred  to  the  Terri- 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  II.,  164  et  seq. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF    THE   RIVER   OHIO.     295 

torial  Legislature  for  settlement ;  and  we  can  well  believe 
Judge  Burnet  when  he  tells  us  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  de- 
vise a  remedy  for  a  case  so  complex.  "A  plan,  however, 
was  devised,  and  made  obligatory  on  all  concerned,  by  an  act 
which  regulated  the  enclosing  and  cultivating  of  common 
fields,  and  which  gave  general  satisfaction."  ' 

The  picture  of  the  Detroit  habitants  given  by  Burnet  lacks 
the  elements  of  picturesque  beauty  found  in  the  chapters  of 
Mr.  Hubbard  referring  to  a  period  forty  years  later.  Burnet 
presents  them  as  extremely  ignorant  and  strongly  supersti- 
tious ;  treading  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers,  imitative,  not 
seeming  to  know  that  improvements  had  been  made  in  agri- 
culture since  Noah  planted  his  vineyard  ;  raising  the  same 
crops  without  variation,  exhausting  fields  by  poor  tillage  and 
then  abandoning  them  ;  throwing  the  barn  and  stable  litter, 
so  much  needed  by  the  hungry  soil,  into  the  river ;  and, 
withal,  conscientiously  exact  in  the  performance  of  their  re- 
ligious duties,  regularly  paying  their  tithes  to  the  priest  with 
cheerfulness,  and  constant  in  attendance  at  church.2  No 
doubt  the  man  who  would  form  a  correct  conception  of  this 
French  civilization  must  take  the  two  accounts  together. 

It  is  impossible  to  follow  carefully  the  development  of 
the  majestic  civil  life  that  has  its  springing  point  in  the  Mari- 
etta settlement.  Attention  will,  however,  be  drawn  to  some 
of  the  principal  questions  that  arose  in  the  Territorial  period. 
The  question  whether  the  Old  Congress  could  successfully 
manage  the  Territory,  keeping  it  in  due  relation  to  the  Con- 
federacy and  erecting  the  new  States  when  the  time  should 
come,  was  happily  adjourned  by  the  adoption  of  the  National 
Constitution.  A  brief  act  passed  at  the  first  session  of  the 
first  Congress  sufficed  to  effect  the  necessary  adjustments  of 
the  Ordinance  to  the  new  government.  This  act  put  the  Terri- 
torial officers,  as  respects  their  appointment  and  commissions, 
upon  the  same  footing  as  the  officers  provided  for  by  the  Con- 

1  Burnet :  Notes,  307.  s  Ibid.,  281  et  seq. 


296  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

stitution — nomination  by  the  President  and  confirmation  by 
the  Senate.  Afterward  Congress  authorized  the  Governor 
and  Judges  to  repeal  laws  that  they  had  once  adopted,  a 
power  that  the  Ordinance  had  not  conferred. 
1  One  of  the  first  duties  with  which  Governor  St.  Clair  was^ 
charged  was  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Ind- 
ians. All  the  Western  Indians  repudiated  the  second  Treaty 
of  Fort  Stanwix,  1784;  and  the  majority  of  them  the  Treaty 
of  Fort  Mclntosh,  of  the  following  year.  In  1789  St.  Clair 
concluded  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Harmar  with  the  Wyandots, 
Delawares,  and  several  other  tribes,  whereby  the  tribes  con- 
firmed the  Treaty  of  Fort  Mclntosh,  and  relinquished  to  the 
United  States  all  lands,  so  far  as  they  had  a  right  to  the  same, 
east,  south,  and  west  of  these  lines  :  The  Cuyahoga  and  Tusca- 
rawas  Rivers,  and  the  portage  between  them  from  Lake  Erie 
to  the  forks  above  Fort  Laurens;  a  straight  line  west  from 
the  forks  to  Loramie's  on  the  Big  Miami ;  and  a  line  from 
Loramie's  to  the  Maumee,  and  then  down  the  Maumee  to 
the  Lake.  But  the  larger  number  of  the  Indians  interested 
refused  to  be  bound  by  this  agreement.  The  Indians  de- 
manded that  the  whites  should  retire  beyond  the  Ohio  ;  and 
the  long  war  that  had  devastated  the  frontier  almost  without 
cessation  since  1755  continued  to  lengthen  out  the  years. 
Harmar's,  St.  Clair's,  and  Wayne's  invasions  of  the  Indian 
country  are  told  in  every  book  of  Indian  warfare,  and  do  not 
fall  within  the  compass  of  the  present  work.  The  power 
of  the  Indians  was  broken  for  the  time  by  Wayne's  victory 
on  the  Maumee  in  1794  ;  and,  by  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Green- 
ville, entered  into  in  1795,  they  relinquished  all  the  lands  east 
and  south  of  this  series  of  lines  :  The  Cuyahoga  and  Tus- 
carawas  Rivers  from  the  Lake  to  the  forks  above  Fort  Laurens  ; 
a  straight  line  drawn  from  this  point  to  Loramie's ;  thence  to 
Fort  Recovery  on  the  Wabash  ;  and  thence  southwest  to  the 
Ohio  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River.  This  vic- 
tory gave  the  Northwest  peace  until  the  days  when,  just  be- 
fore the  War  of  1812,  the  Indians  made,  under  the  leadership  of 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER  OHIO.     297 

Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet,  another  efjort  to  stay  the  tide  of 
invasion.  The  fondness  of  the  Indians  for  this  noble  domain 
is  shown  by  the  long  and  determined  stand  that  they  made 
to  retain  it ;  as  the  desire  of  the  whites  to  possess  it  is,  by 
their  suffering  and  sacrifices  in  the  long  conflict.  It  is  said 
that,  in  the  seven  years  closing  with  1790,  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty  men,  women,  and  children,  in  Kentucky 
alone,  were  massacred  by  the  Indians  or  carried  away  into 
slavery.  *J/ 

Theflndian  War  materially  retarded  population,  and  also 
influenced  its  distribution.  In  1795  Governor  St.  Clair,  who 
had  given  careful  attention  to  the  subject,  estimated  the 
population  under  his  jurisdiction  at  only  fifteen  thousand 
souls.  The  census-takers  of  1800  reported  finding,  in  the 
whole  Northwest,  51,006  people.  Kentucky,  however,  in- 
creased from  73,679  in  1790  to  220,955  in  1800.  The  geo- 
graphical relations  of  the  Territory  to  the  East,  to  the  Middle 
States,  and  to  the  South  rendered  a  mixed  population  a  fore-, 
gone  conclusion.  The  New  Englanders  took  the  initiative, 
making  their  way  across  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware,  and 
through  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio.  For  a  time 
the  Indian  War  almost  stopped  the  flow  of  emigration  from 
New  England  ;  and  by  the  time  that  it  began  to  move  again 
the  Western  Reserve  had  been  thrown  upon  the  market  in 
part,  and  thenceforth  that  region  absorbed  the  larger  number 
of  the  New  Englanders  who  made  their  homes  west  of  New 
York.  But,  even  then,  the  Pennsylvania  road  by  Pittsburg 
was  preferred  by  many  of  the  emigrants  to  the  New  York 
road  by  Buffalo.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  renewed  ferocity 
with  which  the  war  was  waged  after  the  Marietta  settlement 
was  made,  New  England  would  no  doubt  have  contributed 
a  much  larger  relative  number  to  the  first  population  of  the 
Ohio  Valley.  It  should  be  mentioned,  to  the  great  credit  of 
the  Ohio  Company,  that  it  contributed  largely  of  its  means 

1  Cooley  :  Michigan,  31. 


298  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

to  defend  the  infant  settlements  on  the  Ohio  against  the  Ind- 
ians.1 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  made  the  Governor  and  Judges  a 
temporary  legislature,  empowered  not  to  enact  laws  but  to 
"  adopt  and  publish  such  laws  of  the  original  States  "  as  they 
deemed  necessary  and  fit,  etc.,  reporting  them  to  Congress 
from  time  to  time  ;  said  laws  to  continue  in  force  until  the  or- 
ganization of  the  general  assembly,  "  unless  disapproved  by 
Congress."  This  method  of  legislation  was  followed  in  con- 
stituting all  the  territories  carved  out  of  the  old  Northwest 
except  Wisconsin,  organized  in  1836,  and  also  in  the  act  of 
1790  for  the  Territory  South  of  the  Ohio.  Immediately  this 
legislature  set  to  work  to  provide  a  code  of  laws  for  the  Ter- 
ritory, giving  its  attention,  first  of  all,  as  was  natural,  to  a  mil- 
itia law ;  but  the  history  of  its  work  will  not  be  followed, 
except  to  point  out  two  or  three  interesting  features. 

First,  the  Governor  and  Judges  did  not  confine  themselves 
to  adopting  and  publishing  laws  of  the  original  States,  but 
legislated  de  novo.  This  course  they  defended  on  the  ground 
of  necessity ;  they  could  not  find  laws  suited  to  all  the  wants 
of  the  Territory  in  the  State  statute-books.  As  Congress  did 
not  formally  disapprove  these  laws,  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions they  continued  in  operation  until  set  aside  by  the  Ter- 
ritorial authorities.  There  being  no  proper  capital,  the  leg- 
islature promulgated  laws  at  various  places,  as  Marietta, 
Cincinnati,  and  Vincennes.  In  June,  1795,  the  legislature 
took  up  the  problem  of  a  "  complete  system  of  statutory  juris- 
prudence, by  adoption  from  the  laws  of  the  original  States,  in 
strict  conformity  to  the  provisions  of  the  Ordinance."  By 
adopting  an  old  Virginia  statute  of  the  colonial  period 
"  the  common  law  of  England,  and  all  general  statutes  in  aid 
of  the  common  law  prior  to  the  fourth  year  of  James  I.,"  were 


1  See  Services  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  Defending  the  United  States  Frontier 
from  Invasion,  an  article  by  W.  P.  Cutler,  in  the  Ohio  Archaeological  and  His- 
torical Quarterly,  I.,  293  et  seq. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER  OHIO.     299 

put  in  force  in  the  Territory.  "  The  other  laws  of  1795  were 
principally  derived  from  the  statute-book  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  system  thus  adopted,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  whom  we 
are  here  following,  "  was  not  without  many  imperfections  and 
blemishes,  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  colony  at  so 
early  a  period  after  its  first  establishment  ever  had  one  so 
good." '  Another  difficulty  was  a  difference  of  opinion  be- 
tween the  Governor  and  the  Judges  as  to  their  respective  legis- 
lative functions.  Was  the  Governor  simply  one  member  of  the 
legislature  ?  or  was  he  a  constituent  part  of  it,  having  equal 
authority  with  the  Judges  as  a  whole  ?  The  Governor  vetoed 
drafts  of  laws  submitted  to  him  ;  the  Judges  called  his  attention 
to  the  words  "  or  a  majority  of  them  "  in  the  clause  of  the  Or- 
dinance relating  to  the  adoption  of  laws,  and  he  retorted,  with 
no  little  force,  that  wherever  the  law-expounders  are  also  the 
law-makers,  the  result  is  a  tyranny.  On  this  issue  St.  Clair 
had  his  way ;  on  another  one  he  was  less  successful. 

The  Ordinance  gave  the  Governor  power  to  appoint  "  such 
magistrates  and  other  civil  officers,  in  each  county  or  town- 
ship, as  he  should  find  necessary,"  thus  giving  him,  by  impli- 
cation, the  power  to  erect  counties.  The  Governor,  therefore, 
proceeded  to  constitute  counties.  While  these  counties  were 
not  as  large  as  those  that  Virginia  had  bounded  on  the  west 
by  the  South  Sea,  or  even  by  the  Mississippi  River,  they  were 
still  of  truly  imperial  proportions.  Washington  County,  for 
example,  reached  from  the  Ohio  to  Lake  Erie,  and  from  the 
Pennsylvania  line  to  the  Cuyahoga-Tuscarawas  line  and  the 
Scioto.  St.  Clair  County  embraced  all  Southern  Illinois. 
But  Wayne  County,  organized  in  1796,  was  the  most  exten- 
sive of  all,  including  all  the  territory  within  the  following 
limits :  North  by  the  international  boundary  line,  east  by  the 
Cuyahoga,  the  portage-path,  and  the  Tuscarawas ;  south  by  a 
line  reaching  from  the  forks  above  Fort  Laurens  west  and 
northwest  to  the  head  of  the  Miami  of  the  Ohio ;  thence  north- 

1  Preliminary  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Ohio,  in  Statutes  of  Ohio,  I.,  26,  27. 


300  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

west  to  the  portage  between  the  Miami  of  the  Lake  and  the 
Wabash,  where  Fort  Wayne  now  is,  and  thence  northwest  to 
the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  ;  and  west  by  a  line  running  north 
to  the  international  boundary,  including  all  the  lands  in  Wis- 
consin draining  eastward  to  the  same  lake.  The  original 
counties  had  to  be  divided  into  smaller  ones,  and  the  General 
Assembly,  after  1799,  claimed  the  power  to  make  the  sub- 
division. The  Governor  denied  the  Assembly's  claim,  and 
vetoed  its  bills  erecting  new  counties,  the  result  being  a  con- 
troversy that  was  finally  carried  to  Congress,  and  decided 
against  him.  Much  of  the  bitterness  of  this  controversy  is 
said  to  have  been  due  to  land-speculators,  anxious  to  influ- 
ence the  erection  of  counties  and  the  location  of  county 
towns,  who  found  Governor  St.  Clair  standing  in  their  way. 

The  mingling  of  elements  from  all  parts  of  the  Atlantic 
slope  in  the  new  population,  and  particularly  the  appoint- 
ment of  New  England  and  Middle  State  men  in  about  equal 
numbers  to  Territorial  offices,  decided  the  character  of  the  lo- 
cal institutions  now  found  in  Ohio.  Two  radically  different 
types  of  local  government  are  found  in  the  old  States — the 
town  system  and  the  county  system.  As  the  names  indicate, 
the  first  assigns  the  major  part  of  political  power  to  town  or 
township  officers,  the  second  to  county  officers.  These  sys- 
tems are  traceable  to  England.  The  founders  of  New  Eng- 
land came  from  towns  and  cities,  and  they  naturally  set  up 
municipal  institutions;  the  founders  of  Virginia  came  from 
the  English  counties,  and  as  naturally  set  up  county  institu- 
tions. That  the  one  would  be  more  congenial  to  a  civic 
democracy,  the  other  to  a  landed  gentry,  goes  without  the 
saying.  As  is  well  known,  Mr.  Jefferson  strove  to  introduce 
the  New  England  system  into  Virginia,  and  made  it  the  sub- 
ject of  frequent  eulogy.  "These  wards,  called  townships  in 
New  England,"  he  said,  in  1816,  "are  the  vital  principle  of 
their  governments,  and  have  proved  themselves  the  wisest 
invention  ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man  for  the  perfect  exer- 
cise of  self-government  and  for  its  preservation."  Again,  in 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     3OI 

1810  he  speaks  of"  the  large  lubberly  division  into  counties," 
of  the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States  "which  can 
never  be  assembled." l  Local  government  in  the  Middle 
States  is  a  compromise  of  the  town  and  county  systems;  the 
county  is  more  than  in  New  England,  and  the  town  more 
than  in  the  South.  Governor  St.  Clair  was  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, Judge  Symmes  from  New  Jersey,  General  Putnam 
from  Massachusetts ;  and  the  three  established  in  the  Terri- 
tory local  institutions  that  are  a  sort  of  cross  on  the  com- 
promise and  town  systems.8 

Very  serious  evils  grew  out  of  the  first  land-policy  that 
was  adopted.  The  effect  of  that  policy  was  the  sale  of 
the  lands  in  large  tracts  to  first  purchasers,  to  be  resold  to 
settlers  in  lots  suitable  to  their  convenience.  About  one-half 
the  State  of  Ohio  was  made  up  of  large  blocks  of  land 
ranging  from  the  1,000,000  acres  of  the  Symmes  purchase  to 
the  4,209,800  acres  of  the  Virginia  Military  District.  In  its 
undivided  form  the  Virginia  District,  as  well  as  the  United 
States  Bounty  Lands,  belonged  to  a  large  number  of  persons; 
but,  through  the  sale  and  purchase  of  rights,  the  lands  in  both 
of  them  tended  to  work  into  the  hands  of  large  holders.  In 
1800  Governor  St.  Clair  called  the  attention  of  the  legislat- 
ure to  this  state  of  things.  He  said  in  his  address  that  the 
lands  had  generally  been  held  by  a  few  individuals  in  large 
quantities,  who  had  sold  them  out  in  small  parcels  on  credit ; 
that  in  some  of  the  counties  the  majority  of  the  people,  un- 
able in  the  midst  of  the  general  poverty  to  meet  their  engage- 
ments, were  debtors  to  the  proprietors;  and  that  this  state 
of  things  gave  creditors  a  dangerous  power  over  the  votes  of 
debtors.  He  therefore  suggested  whether  the  substitution 
of  election  by  ballot  for  election  viva  voce  would  not  be  "  the 
best  way  of  guarding  against  that  not  improbable  evil."* 
No  attention  was  paid  to  this  suggestion  until  the  year  1802, 

1  Jefferson  :  Works,  VII.,  13  ;  V.,  525. 
*  Andrews  :  Washington  County,  32. 
8  St  Clair  Papers,  II.,  501  et  seq. 


302  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

when  it  was  adopted  in  the  Ohio  Constitution ;  but  competi- 
tion and  the  inability  of  the  great  land-owners  to  hold  their 
tracts  tended  to  diminish  the  danger  that  the  Governor  had 
pointed  out. 

But  there  were  practical  evils  of  a  serious  character  con- 
nected with  the  land-system.  At  first  Congress  did  not  it- 
self propose  to  sell  lands  save  in  large  tracts,  like  the  Ohio 
and  Symmes  purchases.  The  Land  Ordinance  of  1785  created 
a  very  complicated  machinery  for  effecting  sales.  It  author- 
ized the  Loan  Commissioners  of  the  several  States  to  sell  at 
public  vendue  lands  in  townships  of  23,040  acres,  and  in  sec- 
tions of  640  acres,  in  equal  quantities;  it  made  no  provision 
for  land-offices  in  the  Western  country ;  and  it  fixed  the 
minimum  price  at  one  dollar  an  acre  and  the  cost  of  survey,  in 
specie  or  its  equivalent.  Under  the  Constitution  successive 
acts  of  legislation  corrected  the  evils  growing  out  of  these 
features  of  the  Ordinance  of  1785  so  effectually  as  to  create 
other  evils  of  the  opposite  character  almost  equally  great. 
The  survey  and  sale  of  half-sections,  quarter-sections,  and 
then  of  smaller  lots  were  authorized.  In  1800  the  minimum 
price  of  lands  was  advanced  to  $2  an  acre  on  a  long  credit, 
or  $1.64  in  cash.  Land-offices  were  established  and  multi- 
plied. No  doubt  the  credit  system  facilitated  settlements, 
but  it  led  to  great  abuses  and  much  suffering.  In  1820,  if 
we  may  trust  Judge  Burnet,  more  than  half  of  the  men 
Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  were  in  debt  to  the  Government ; 
and  it  was  feared  that  an  attempt  to  enforce  payment,  by  a 
forfeiture  of  the  land,  under  the  laws  of  Congress,  would  pro- 
duce resistance,  and  probably  terminate  in  a  civil  war.  A 
similar  state  of  things  existed  in  the  Southwest.  In  response 
to  a  perfect  snow-storm  of  memorials  calling  for  relief,  Con- 
gress, in  1821,  by  enacting  that  purchasers  indebted  to  the 
Government  might  relinquish  lands  they  could  not  pay  for, 
receiving  credit  on  lands  not  relinquished  for  moneys  actually 
paid  in,  relieved  the  general  distress.  That  act  paid  more 
than  $20,000,000  of  debts  ;  while  the  sore  experience  that  led 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     303 

to  it  caused  Congress  to  reduce  the  price  of  lands  to  $1.25  an 
acre,  with  payment  in  advance.1 

When  Judge  Burnet  began  to  practise  law  in  the  Territory 
the  General  Court,  which  consisted  of  the  three  judges  pro- 
vided for  by  the  Ordinance,  who  received  each  a  salary  of  $800, 
sat  in  four  places  :  Marietta,  Cincinnati,  Vincennes,  and  Kas- 
kaskia.  Soon  after,  Detroit  was  included  within  the  circuit. 
This  court  had  power  to  review  and  to  revise  the  decisions  of 
all  inferior  tribunals,  but  from  its  own  decisions  there  was  no 
appeal,  not  even  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
The  Judges  spent  about  as  much  time  in  the  saddle  as  on  the 
bench.  Court  and  bar  travelled  through  the  wilderness,  five 
or  six  together,  sometimes  seven  or  eight  days  on  a  single 
journey,  with  a  pack-horse  to  transport  the  supplies  that  they 
could  not  carry  on  their  own  horses  or  purchase  by  the  way. 
When  purchasing  a  horse,  one  of  the  first  questions  was 
whether  he  was  a  good  swimmer.5  But  that  was  the  day 
when  the  mail  was  a  week  in  going  and  coming  between 
Marietta  and  Zanesville  ;  when  the  Postmaster-General 
sometimes  filled  up  mail  schedules  and  contracts  with  his  own 
hand  ;  and  when  the  principal  means  of  transportation  on  the 
Ohio  was  the  "  Ark,"  invented  by  one  Krudger  on  the  Juniata 
River  —  a  square,  flat-bottomed  vessel,  forty  feet  in  length  by 
fifteen  in  breadth,  six  feet  deep,  covered  with  a  roof  of  thin 
boards,  accommodated  with  a  fireplace,  and  carrying  from  two 
hundred  to  four  hundred  barrels  of  flour.8 

For  a  number  of  years  the  Territory  was  not  vexed  by 
party  politics  ;  but  in  due  time  men  began  to  divide  along  the 
line  separating  the  two  nascent  political  parties  in  the  old 
States.  In  general,  New  England  men  tended  to  the  Federal 
party  and  Southern  men  to  the  Republican  party,  while 
Middle  State  men  were  divided  more  equally.  The  facts  of 
emigration  already  pointed  out  gave  the  party  led  by  Mr. 


1  Burnet  :  Notes,  450-454  ;  Sumner  :  Andrew  Jackson,  184, 

*  Burnet  :  Notes,  63-65.  3  Harris  :  The  Journal  of  a  Tour,  etc.,  30,  31. 


304  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Jefferson  a  considerable  advantage,  and  the  democratizing  in- 
fluences of  the  time,  and  particularly  of  the  West,  increased 
that  advantage  more  and  more.  In  searching  for  an  explana- 
tion of  the  final  triumph  of  the  Republicans  over  the  Feder- 
alists, Mr.  Hildreth  says  the  second  "  had  their  strength  in 
those  narrow  districts  where  a  concentrated  population  had 
produced  and  contributed  to  maintain  that  complexity  of  in- 
stitutions and  that  reverence  for  social  order  which,  in  pro- 
portion as  men  are  brought  into  contiguity,  become  more  ab- 
solutely necessaries  of  existence."  These  conditions  existed 
at  the  close  of  the  last  century  in  New  England,  New  Jer- 
sey, Maryland,  Delaware,  and  tide-water  South  Carolina ; 
and  here  he  finds  represented  "  the  experience,  the  pru- 
dence, the  practical  wisdom,  the  discipline,  the  conservative 
reason  and  instincts  of  the  country."  "  The  ultra-demo- 
cratical  ideas  of  the  opposition  " — that  expressed  the  country's 
wishes,  hopes,  and  especially  theories,  its  passions,  sympa- 
thies, antipathies,  and  its  impatience  of  restraint — "  pre- 
vailed in  all  that  more  extensive  region  in  which  the  dis- 
persion of  population,  and  the  despotic  authority  vested  in 
individuals  over  families  of  slaves,  kept  society  in  a  state 
of  immaturity,  and  made  legal  restraints  the  more  irksome 
in  proportion  as  their  necessity  was  the  less  felt."  These 
conditions  were  best  represented  by  Virginia,  the  head  and 
front  of  the  Republican  party.  North  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  and  Kentucky  followed  Virginia ;  and  "  the  rap- 
idly increasing  backwoods  settlements  of  all  these  States 
constantly  added  new  strength  to  the  opposition."  The 
decision  depended  ultimately  "  on  the  two  great  and  grow- 
ing States  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  ;  and  from  the 
very  fact  that  they  were  growing,  that  both  of  them  had 
an  extensive  backwoods  frontier  .  .  .  they  both  inclined 
more  and  more  to  the  Republican  side." '  Perhaps  these 
most  suggestive  remarks  do  not  accurately  state  the  case  be- 

1  History,  V.,  415,  416. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF  THE  RIVERJ3HIO.     305 

tween  the  two  parties  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Adams's  administra- 
tion ;  but  there  is  no  question  that  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
new  settlements,  whether  in  the  old  States  or  in  the  West, 
from  1790  on,  was  a  material  cause  of  the  final  complete  an- 
nihilation of  the  Federal  party.  The  democratizing  influ- 
ences were  less  strong  in  the  region  that  soon  became  Ohio 
than  in  the  slave-holding  States  south  of  the  river  ;  but  they 
were  strong  enough  to  give  the  Virginia  party  a  decided  as- 
cendancy for  a  full  generation.  The  fact  is — and  a  very  im- 
portant fact,  too — that  the  political  temper  of  Western  soci- 
ety, even  north  of  the  Ohio,  was  far  more  like  that  of  the 
South  than  that  of  New  England. 

As  soon  as  the  new  political  yeast  began  to  work,  men  be- 
gan to  complain  bitterly  of  the  centralization  of  the  govern- 
ment provided  by  the  Ordinance,  and  of  the  Governor's  admin- 
istration. St.  Glair's  sense  of  justice,  eminent  public  services, 
social  qualities,  and  weight  of  character  had  made  him  a  pop- 
ular officer  as  long  as  there  was  no  politics  in  the  district ; 
but  henceforth  his  popularity  continues  to  wane.  He  was  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  a  Federalist ;  his  manners 
were  those  of  cultivated  circles  ;  he  could  not  be,  and  did  not 
wish  to  be,  a  Democrat ;  he  stood  stoutly  for  the  dignity  and 
prerogatives  of  his  office;  he  did  not  trim  his  sails  to  the 
breeze  that  was  now  blowing  stiffly  from  Virginia ;  he  com- 
mitted indiscretions  of  power,  and  incurred  personal  enmities, 
as  a  matter  of  course ;  besides,  and  in  consequence  of  the  fore- 
going, on  .the  exciting  questions  now  coming  to  the  front,  he 
took  the  unpopular  side. 

In  1798  it  was  ascertained  that  the  Territory  had  the  five 
thousand  free  male  inhabitants  that  the  Ordinance  had  made 
the  condition  of  the  second  stage  of  government.  That 
stage  it  accordingly  entered  upon,  the  following  year.  The 
General  Assembly  first  met  for  the  transaction  of  business  at 
Cincinnati,  September  24,  1799.  The  Lower  House  con- 
sisted of  twenty-two  members  representing  nine  counties. 
Seven  of  the  number  came  from  the  four  counties  contain- 

20 


306  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ing  the  old  French  settlements  in  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Illi- 
nois, fifteen  from  the  five  Ohio  counties.  Hamilton  County 
alone,  eleven  years  old,  had  the  same  number  of  representa- 
tives as  the  four  French  counties,  more  than  a  century  old. 
Four  of  the  five  members  of  the  Council  were  from  Ohio 
counties,  and  one  from  Vincennes.  William  Henry  Harrison, 
who  had  succeeded  Mr.  Sargent  in  the  secretaryship,  was 
chosen  delegate  to  Congress,  where  he  rendered  his  constit- 
uents much  good  service,  particularly  in  procuring  needed 
legislation  on  the  subject  of  lands.  The  new  order  of  things 
was  quite  different  from  the  old.  The  Governor  was  no 
longer  part  of  the  legislature,  but  he  had  an  unquestioned 
veto  that  he  freely  exercised,  particularly  in  legislation  relating 
to  counties.  His  power  was  materially  strengthened  by  the 
change,  and  his  troubles  proportionally  increased.  Moreover, 
the  appearance  of  a  legislature  and  a  delegate  in  Congress 
greatly  stimulated  political  activity,  and  from  this  time  on  to 
the  admission  of  Ohio  to  the  Union,  events  became  more  and 
more  exciting.  Section  I  of  the  Ordinance  reserved  to  Con- 
gress the  right,  which  it  would  have  had  otherwise,  since  it 
was  not  a  subject  of  compact,  to  divide  the  Northwest  into 
two  territories  whenever  circumstances  might  render  it  expe- 
dient. At  the  session  of  1799-1800  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives referred  the  subject  to  a  committee,  of  which  Delegate 
Harrison  was  chairman.  In  a  letter  to  Harrison,  dated  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1800,  St.  Clair  recommended  the  formation  of  three 
territories,  the  dividing  lines  to  be  the  Scioto  River,  and 
a  meridian  line  drawn  through  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky 
River,  with  Marietta,  Cincinnati,  and  Vincennes  as  capitals. 
This  scheme,  which  was  to  continue  only  until  the  new  States 
were  formed,  he  supported  with  many  plausible  arguments. 
The*  vision  of  a  new  State  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Territory 
was  now  rising  full-orbed  upon  the  sight  of  national  states- 
men and  Territorial  politicians,  and,  as  in  many  another  simi- 
lar case,  both  statesmen  and  politicians  were  anxious  that  the 
State  should  come  into  the  Union  with  the  right  kind  of  poli- 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST  OF  THE  RIVER  OHIO.     307 

tics.  It  was  objected  to  St.  Clair's  scheme  that  it  would 
postpone  the  formation  of  the  State,  which  was  true  enough, 
and  that  his  purpose  was  to  carve  out  a  territory  of  which  he 
could  be  governor  for  life,  which  was  absurd.  His  scheme 
failed  to  command  the  support  of  Mr.  Harrison,  who  was  a 
State  man,  and  of  Congress,  but  it  did  not  fail  to  add  to  St. 
Clair's  growing  unpopularity!  On  May  7,  1800,  an  act  was  ap- 
proved constituting  all  that  part  of  the  Northwest  lying  west 
of  the  treaty-line  of  1795,  from  the  Ohio  to  Fort  Recovery, 
and  a  line  drawn  from  the  fort  to  the  international  boundary, 
a  separate  territory,  to  be  called  Indiana  Territory.  The  act 
made  Chillicothe  and  Vincennes  the  two  capitals,  until  oth- 
erwise ordained  by  the  respective  legislatures;  and  said,  when- 
ever the  territory  east  of  the  meridian  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Miami  River  should  become  an  independent  State, 
thenceforth  said  meridian  should  be  the  boundary  between 
the  new  territory  and  such  State. 

The  Virginia  colony  of  Ross  County  were  very  influential 
in  bringing  about  this  legislation.  In  fact,  the  original  scheme 
of  the  Chillicothe  managers  was  much  more  extensive,  em- 
bracing these  features :  (i)  The  appointment  of  William 
Henry  Harrison  as  Governor  of  the  Indiana  Territory;  (2) 
the  establishment  of  the  permanent  seat  of  government  for 
the  Eastern  district  at  Chillicothe  ;  and  (3)  such  alterations 
in  the  form  of  the  Territorial  Government  as  should  vacate 
the  offices.1  Of  course,  the  programme  included  the  retire- 
ment of  St.  Clair.  Harrison  did  become  the  governor  of  the 
new  territory,  and  Chillicothe  the  temporary  capital  of  the 
Eastern  district ;  but,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  Senate,  the 
act  of  May  7th  contained  an  express  prohibition  of  change  in 
the  government  of  the  old  Territory  other  than  its  limitation 
in  extent.  Henceforth,  until  its  final  disappearance  from  the 
map,  on  February  19,  1803,  the  name  Northwest  Territory  is 
limited  to  the  eastern  of  the  two  territories.  The  striking 

'  St  Clair  Papers,  I.,  236. 


308  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

features  of  its  history  are  the  agitation  of  the  State  question 
and  the  growing  embarrassments  of  Governor  St.  Clair.  The 
census  of  1800  reported  a  population  of  45,916  in  the  Terri- 
tory, thus  distributed  by  counties  :  Adams,  3,432  ;  Hamilton, 
14,692;  Jefferson,  8,766;  Ross,  8,540;  Trumbull,  1,302; 
Wayne,  3,757. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  long  administration  there  was  a 
total  want  of  agreement  between  the  Governor  and  a  majority 
of  the  people  of  the  Territory  in  political  ideas  and  temper. 
He  was  a  pronounced  Federalist ;  they  were  pronounced  Re- 
publicans. So  extreme  was  he  in  his  opinions  that  he  wrote 
and  published  a  pamphlet  in  defence  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws,  which  President  Adams  said  was  "  masterly,"  written 
"  in  the  style  and  manner  of  a  gentleman,  and  seasoned  with 
no  more  than  was  useful  and  agreeable  of  Attic  salt." '  If 
seasoned  to  Adams's  taste,  it  must  have  been  pungent  indeed. 
At  this  time  the  Federalists  were  taking  those  extreme  meas- 
ures which  conclusively  showed  that  they  did  not  understand 
the  popular  temper,  and  the  Republicans  were  seeking  to 
rescue  the  country  from  evils  and  dangers  which  they  de- 
scribed in  the  most  exaggerated  language.  To  this  extent, 
the  strife  in  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio  was  simply  a  part  of  the 
bitter  political  controversy  then  going  on  in  all  the  old  States. 
Then  some  of  the  Governor's  personal  qualities  were  a  source 
of  criticism.  Judge  Burnet,  who  was  an  admirer  of  St.  Clair, 
and  a  member  of  the  same  political  party,  says  he  placed  too 
high  an  estimate  on  his  own  powers  of  mind,  and,  although 
modest  and  unassuming  in  society,  very  rarely  yielded  an 
opinion  that  he  had  once  deliberately  formed.*.  St.  Clair  was 
a  Scotchman  and  a  Federalist,  holding  a  position  of  great 
power  and  responsibility  in  a  young  American  democracy 
west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Naturally,  he  became  less  yielding 
as  he  grew  older,  and  assaults  upon  him  became  more  fre- 
quent and  bitter.  But  St.  Clair's  Federalism  and  obnoxious 

1  St  Clair  Papers,  I.,  234.  *  Burnet :  Notes,  378-381. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     309 

personal  qualities  alone  would  not  have  caused  the  opposition 
that  he  encountered.  The  question  of  a  new  State  in  the 
Eastern  district  of  the  Northwest  was  now  coloring — and 
deeply  coloring — all  Territorial  questions.  Generally  speak- 
ing, Federalists  and  Republicans  divided  on  this  subject.  A 
resolution  unanimously  adopted  by  a  delegate  convention  of 
the  County  of  Washington,  held  at  Marietta  in  June,  1801, 
expressed  the  common  view  of  the  one  party,  viz.  :  "  That  in 
our  opinion,  it  would  be  highly  impolitic,  and  very  injurious 
to  the  inhabitants  of  this  Territory,  to  enter  into  a  state  gov- 
ernment at  this  time."  '  The  Republican  view,  as  expressed 
by  a  writer  in  the  Scioto  Gazette,  was  that  such  a  change  would 
be  like  opening  the  floodgates  to  a  mill ;  wealth  would  flow 
in,  improvements  would  spring  up,  the  streams  would  "  roll 
along  "  food  to  thousands  suffering  from  want,  and  arrange- 
ments for  education  would  be  perfected  ;  plains  covered  with 
herds  and  farms  with  crops  would  gladden  the  owners'  hearts, 
and  the  government,  like  the  tree  of  liberty,  would  extend  its 
benign  branches  over  the  citizens,  sheltering  them  from  tyranny 
and  oppression.11  One  side  objected  that  a  State  government 
would  be  costly,  that  the  people  could  not  pay  the  taxes,  and 
that  it  was  far  better  to  allow  the  United  States  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  government  than  to  impose  them  upon  the  citi- 
zens ;  and  the  other  side  replied  that  the  salaries  now  paid 
by  Congress  to  the  Governor  and  Judges  amounted  to  only 
$5,500,  that  a  State  government  would  not  cost  more  than 
$15,400  per  annum,  while  the  people  were  able  to  pay  taxes 
amounting  to  $27,926.90  for  the  year  1801.  Those  were 
days  of  small  things,  in  more  senses  than  one.  But  beneath 
all  these  petty  arguments  was  the  great  question  of  national 
politics.  The  elder  Meigs  said  the  Federalists  opposed  a  new 
State  because  it  meant  three  more  Republican  presidential 
electors  and  two  more  Republican  Senators  ;  if  he  had  added 
that  the  Republicans  favored  it  for  the  same  reason,  as  well 

'Andrews  :  Washington  County,  27.        *  St.  Clair  Papers,  I.,  225,  226. 


310  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

as  because  there  would  be  a  number  of  State  offices  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  active  politicians,  he  would  then  have  told 
an  equal  amount  of  truth  about  both  sides.  St.  Clair  was  the 
head  and  front  of  the  Federal  party.  What  Mr.  Smith '  calls 
the  "junto"  had  plenty  of  reasons  for  desiring  to  break  down 
the  Governor's  influence  or  to  drive  him  from  the  Territory. 
Men  of  to-day  who  have  been  taught  by  historians  that  Arthur 
St.  Clair  was  a  thorough  patriot,  and  by  jurists  that  the  Or- 
dinance of  1787  was  a  paragon  of  political  wisdom,  would  find 
it  hard  to  explain  the  language  in  which  the  extreme  Repub- 
licans of  the  Territory  habitually  spoke  of  both,  were  they 
not  also  instructed  in  the  capabilities  for  detraction  of  heated 
political  partisans.  Thomas  Worthington,  afterward  Govern- 
or of  Ohio,  called  St.  Clair  "  Arthur  the  First,"  and  spoke  of 
the  efforts  to  thwart  him  as  efforts  "  to  curb  a  tyrant."  Gen- 
eral Darlington,  speaking  of  the  formation  of  the  new  State, 
said  the  people  of  Adams  County  "  congratulated  themselves 
on  the  prospect  of  having  it  soon  in  their  power  to  shake  off 
the  iron  fetters  of  aristocracy  and  in  the  downfall  of  the  Tory 
party  in  this  Territory."  a  These  "  aristocrats  "  and  "  Tories  " 
were  Arthur  St.  Clair  and  the  leading  citizens  of  Marietta. 
The  writer  in  the  Scioto  Gazette,  already  quoted,  speaks  of 
"the  utter  impossibility  of  a  government  conducive  to  national 
happiness  in  this  enlightened  day  being  administered  under  " 
the  Ordinance,  "  unless  by  a  person  more  than  mortal,"  adding : 
"  This  government,  now  so  oppressive,  was  prescribed  by  the 
United  States  at  a  time  when  civil  liberty  was  not  so  well 
understood  as  at  present,  and  when  it  could  not  be  contem- 
plated but  for  the  government  of  a  few."  Judge  Symmes,  one 
of  the  Governor's  most  determined  foes,  declared,  "  We  shall 
never  have  fair  play  while  Arthur  and  his  Knights  of  the 
Round  Table  sit  at  the  head." s  In  some  respects  the  best 
places  to  study  the  clash  between  the  old  political  regime 

1  The  editor  of  the  St.  Clair  Papers. 

a  Andrews  :  Washington  County, 28.         3  St.  Clair  Papers,  I.,  242. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     31 1 

and  the  democratizing  movement  headed  by  Jefferson  are  the 
new  communities  of  the  West. 

Postponing  the  State  question  to  the  next  chapter, 
we  shall  now  rapidly  follow  St.  Clair's  fortunes  to  the 
end. 

A  determined  but  ineffectual  effort  was  made  to  induce 
President  Adams  not  to  reappoint  him  on  the  expiration  of 
his  fourth  term.  No  sooner  was  President  Jefferson  estab- 
lished in  the  chair  than  a  still  more  determined  effort  was 
made  to  effect  his  removal.  An  indictment  almost  as  formi- 
dable as  the  one  preferred  against  George  III.  by  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  was  drawn  up  and  forwarded  to  Washington. 
The  principal  charges  contained  in  this  paper,  as  formulated 
by  General  Massie  and  revised  by  General  Worthington, 
are  usurpations  of  legislative  power,  the  abuse  of  the  veto, 
receiving  unlawful  fees,  attempting  to  dismember  the  Ter- 
ritory, to  destroy  its  constitutional  boundaries  and  so  to 
prevent  the  formation  of  a  State,  endeavoring  to  influence 
the  judiciary,  obstructing  the  organization  and  disciplining  of 
the  militia  for  the  defence  of  the  Territory,  and  hostility  to 
the  form  and  substance  of  republican  government.1  Frag- 
ments of  St.  Clair's  private  conversation,  taken  down  and  duly 
authenticated  by  affidavits,  were  also  sent  to  Washington. 
But  Mr.  Jefferson  refused  to  move  until  St.  Clair,  by  a  char- 
acteristic act  of  indiscretion,  himself  gave  a  reasonable  pre- 
text for  so  doing.  On  November  ist  the  convention  elected 
to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  State  of  Ohio  sat,  and  on  the 
3d,  in  reluctant  response  to  his  own  request,  the  Governor 
was  permitted  to  address  that  body.  Burnet  says  the  ad- 
dress was  "  sensible  and  conciliatory ; "  but  no  man  read- 
ing it  now,  understanding  the  temper  of  the  times  and 
of  the  convention,  would  be  apt  to  think  it  conciliatory. 
This  is  the  bolt  that  answered  the  Governor's  unfortunate 
speech : 

1  St  Clair  Papers,  II.,  566,  567. 


THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

"  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 

"WASHINGTON,  November  12,  1802. 
"ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR,  ESQ. 

"  SIR  :  The  President  observing,  in  an  address  lately  deliv- 
ered by  you  to  the  convention  held  at  Chillicothe,  an  intemper- 
ance and  indecorum  of  language  toward  the  Legislature  of  the 
United  States,  and  a  disorganizing  spirit  and  tendency  of  very 
evil  example,  and  grossly  violating  the  rules  of  conduct  en- 
joined by  your  public  station,  determines  that  your  commission 
of  Governor  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  shall  cease  on  the 
receipt  of  this  notification. 

"  I  am,  etc., 

"  JAMES  MADISON."  ' 

And  then,  as  though  removal  were  not  punishment  enough, 
the  Secretary  of  State  sent  this  letter  enclosed  in  one  to  Sec- 
retary Byrd,  one  of  St.  Clair's  strongest  enemies,  directing  that 
officer  to  assume  the  duties  of  the  governor's  office.  Thomas 
Jefferson  would  have  shown  himself  a  larger  man  if  he  had 
overlooked  the  indiscretion  of  the  Chillicothe  speech  and  per- 
mitted the  venerable  Governor  to  remain  at  the  head  of  the 
Territory  the  few  weeks  yet  to  elapse  before  it  ceased  to  exist. 

St.  Clair  now  retired  to  the  home  that  he  had  made  near 
Ligonier,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  interval  between  the  French 
War  and  the  Revolution.  He  had  spent  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  in  the  continuous  service  of  the  country.  He 
was  sixty-eight  years  old.  His  private  affairs  had  been  sadly 
neglected  in  his  devotion  to  public  business.  He  had  in- 
curred liabilities  for  the  Government  that  the  Government 
now  refused  to  pay.  What  of  his  once  considerable  fortune 
remained  was  swept  away  by  his  creditors.  The  handsome 
"  Hermitage  "  that  he  had  built  and  furnished  in  the  days  of 
his  prosperity  went  with  the  rest,  and  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  dignified  poverty  with  his  beloved  daughter 
Louisa  in  a  log-house  standing  beside  the  road  leading  to  the 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  L,  244-246. 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     313 

great  Territory  with  which  his  name  will  ever  be  identified. 
The  tardy  pension  voted  him  by  Congress  passed  directly 
from  the  treasury  to  one  of  his  creditors.  Pathetic  in  the  ex- 
treme are  the  glimpses  that  we  have  of  his  last  years.  Hon. 
Lewis  Cass,  who  had  known  him  in  happier  days,  found  the 
old  soldier  and  civilian  in  his  rude  cabin  eking  out  a  liveli- 
hood by  selling  supplies  to  the  wagoners  on  the  road,  and  he 
described  the  scene  as  "  one  of  the  most  striking  instances 
of  the  mutations  which  chequer  life."  Hon.  Elisha  Whittle- 
sey,  who  visited  him  in  1815,  was  profoundly  impressed  by 
the  dignity  and  benignity  of  his  character.  "  I  never  was  in 
the  presence  of  a  man  that  caused  me  to  feel  the  same  degree 
of  esteem  and  veneration.  .  .  .  Poverty  did  not  cause 
him  to  lose  his  self-respect,  and  were  he  now  living,  his  per- 
sonal appearance  would  attract  universal  attention."1 

St.  Clair  died,  August  31,  1818,  in  consequence  of  being 
thrown  from  a  wagon  while  going  to  a  neighboring  village. 
To  him  who  is  acquainted  with  St.  Glair's  history,  the  name 
always  suggests  a  striking  example  of  the  ingratitude  of  men 
and  of  republics. 

The  independent  existence  of  Indiana  Territory  began  July 
4,  1800.  At  first  it  included  all  that  part  of  the  old  Territory 
lying  west  of  the  treaty-line  of  1795  from  the  Ohio  River  to 
Fort  Recovery,  and  of  the  meridian  of  the  fort  to  the  national 
limits.  The  act  creating  the  Territory  plainly  contemplated 
the  creation  of  only  three  States  in  the  Northwest,  for  it  pro- 
vided that,  whenever  the  part  of  it  east  of  the  meridian  pass- 
ing through  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  from  the  Ohio  to 
the  territorial  line,  should  be  admitted  to  the  Union  as  an  in- 
dependent State,  "  thenceforth  said  line  shall  become  and  re- 
main permanently  the  boundary-line  between  such  State  and 
the  Indiana  Territory."  But  the  Enabling  Act  for  Ohio,  1802, 
bounded  that  State  on  the  north  by  a  due  east  and  west  line, 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  I.,  253. 


3H  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

from  the  Miami  meridian  to  the  international  boundary, 
drawn  through  the  southerly  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan,  and 
added  all  territory  north  of  such  line,  as  well  as  between 
the  meridian  and  the  line  of  1800,  to  Indiana.  Again,  in 
1804  Louisiana,  extending  from  parallel  thirty-three  degrees 
north  to  the  British  dominions,  and  from  the  Mississippi 
River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was  annexed  to  Indiana,  but 
the  next  year  was  created  an  independent  territory.  The  act 
of  1800  continued  the  form  of  government  created  by  the  Or- 
dinance of  1787,  and  guaranteed  to  the  people  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  that  the  Ordinance  secured  to  them.  Vincennes 
was  the  capital,  and  William  Henry  Harrison  the  first  gov- 
ernor, of  the  territory.  The  population  was  five  thousand  six 
hundred  and  forty-one.  It  entered  on  the  second  stage  of 
government  in  1805. 

Michigan  Territory  was  created  January  II,  1805.  It  was 
bounded  on  the  south  by  the  parallel  passing  through  the 
southerly  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan ;  west  by  a  line  extend- 
ing from  the  same  extreme  through  the  middle  of  the  said 
lake  to  its  northern  extremity,  and  thence  north  to  the  national 
limits ;  and  north  and  east  by  the  international  boundary. 
The  act  creating  the  Territory  continued  all  the  governmental 
features  of  the  Ordinance.  Detroit  was  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, and  General  William  Hull,  the  same  who  seven  years 
later  surrendered  Michigan  to  the  British  arms,  was  appointed 
governor.  The  population  reported  in  1800  was  two  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  The  Territory  entered 
on  the  second  stage  partially  in  1823,  and  fully  in  1827. 

The  next  step  in  this  process  of  territorial  evolution  was 
the  creation  of  the  Territory  of  Illinois.  The  act  of  Febru- 
ary 3,  1809,  separated  it  from  Indiana  Territory  by  the 
Wabash  River  from  its  mouth  to  Vincennes,  and  a  due  north 
line  from  that  point  to  the  territorial  line  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  The  form  of  government  was  that  pre- 
scribed in  the  Ordinance,  save  in  one  feature ;  a  General  As- 
sembly might  be  organized  whenever  satisfactory  evidence 


TERRITORY   NORTHWEST   OF   THE   RIVER   OHIO.     31$ 

should  be  given  to  the  governor  that  such  was  the  wish  of  a 
majority  of  the  free-holders,  "  notwithstanding  there  may  not 
be  therein  five  thousand  free  male  inhabitants  of  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years  and  upwards."  Ninian  Edwards,  at  the  time 
of  his  appointment  Chief  Justice  of  Kentucky,  was  the  first 
governor;  Kaskaskia  was  the  capital;  the  population,  in  1810, 
was  twelve  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-two.  The  Ter- 
ritory entered  on  the  second  stage  in  1812.  We  must  now 
return  to  Michigan. 

The  Enabling  Act  for  Indiana,  April  19,  1816,  bounded 
that  State  on  the  north  by  an  east  and  west  line  ten  miles 
north  of  the  southerly  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  En- 
abling Act  for  Illinois,  April  18,  1818,  made  the  northern 
boundary  of  that  State  parallel  of  latitude  42  °  30 '  north. 
The  act  also  attached  all  that  part  of  the  Territory  of  Illinois 
lying  north  of  this  line  to  Michigan.  An  act,  approved  June 
28,  1834,  attached  to  Michigan  all  the  country  extending  west 
of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Missouri  and  White  Earth  Rivers,  and 
from  the  State  of  Missouri  to  the  national  boundary.  Thus 
at  its  greatest  extent  the  Territory  reached  from  Lake  Huron 
and  the  Detroit  River  to  the  Missouri,  and  from  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri  to  Canada. 

The  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  created  April  20,  1836,  con- 
tained what  was  left  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan  after  the 
State  of  that  name  was  constituted.  It  embraced  the  region 
extending  from  a  line  drawn  through  the  middle  of  Lake 
Michigan  to  the  Missouri  and  White  Earth  Rivers,  and  from 
Illinois  and  Missouri  to  the  British  possessions.  A  much 
greater  innovation  than  that  in  the  case  of  Illinois  was  now 
made  in  the  form  of  government.  The  peculiar  features  of 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  were  all  abandoned,  and  a  new  and 
very  elaborate  model  established,  the  first  of  its  kind  :  A  gov- 
ernor, a  secretary,  judges,  etc.,  appointed  by  the  President 
by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate  ;  a  legislature,  consist- 
ing of  a  council  and  house  of  representatives  elected  by  the 
qualified  electors  of  the  Territory ;  and  a  delegate  to  the  na- 


316  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tional  House  of  Representatives,  elected  in  the  same  way. 
At  the  same  time,  Section  12  enacted  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Territory  should  be  entitled  to  all  the  rights  secured  to 
the  people  of  the  Territory  of  the  United  States  Northwest  of 
the  River  Ohio  by  the  articles  of  compact  contained  in  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  and  should  be  subject  to  all  the  conditions 
and  restrictions  in  said  articles  imposed  upon  the  people  of 
the  said  Territory.  The  act  approved  June  12,  1838,  constitut- 
ing the  Territory  of  Iowa,  limited  Wisconsin  on  the  west  by 
the  Mississippi  River  and  a  line  drawn  from  its  sources  to  the 
territorial  line,  but  guaranteed  to  the  new  Territory  all  the 
rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  that  the  old  one  had  en- 
joyed. 

Such,  in  outline,  is  the  history  of  the  first  territory,  and 
the  most  important  territory,  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  ever  organized. 

NOTE. — Perhaps  as  wide  a  deduction  from  Article  V.  of  com- 
pact of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  as  could  have  been  dreamed  of  at 
the  time  is  one  made  in  the  discussion  of  the  Dakota  question. 
It  has  been  seriously  contended  that  the  compact,  reaffirmed 
by  five  successive  acts  of  Congress,  guaranteed  absolutely  and 
inviolably  "  to  Dakota  the  right  to  found  a  permanent  constitu- 
tion and  State  government  whenever  said  Territory  should  con- 
tain sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants."  The  guarantee  quoted 
above  from  the  Wisconsin  Act  of  1836  is  one  of  the  five  "suc- 
cessive acts."  This  claim  is  pressed  to  the  extent  of  holding 
that  the  people  have  this  right  "  in  their  primary  and  sovereign 
capacity,"  without  any  enabling  act  whatever.  See  "  The  State  : 
How  it  may  be  Formed  from  the  Territory,"  Hugh  J.  Camp- 
bell, United  States  Attorney  of  Dakota  Territory. 


XVII. 

THE    ADMISSION    OF    THE    NORTHWESTERN 
STATES  TO  THE   UNION. 

THE  "  pioneer  thought  "  that  Maryland  laid  before  Con- 
gress in  1777  was  the  proposition  that  the  Western  territory 
should  ultimately  be  divided  into  new  States,  to  be  admitted  to 
the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  under 
the  superintendence  and  jurisdiction  of  Congress.  Such  was 
the  promise  of  the  resolution  of  1780,  such  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  Virginia  deed  of  cession  of  1784,  and,  so  far  as  the 
Northwest  was  concerned,  such  the  guarantee  of  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  had  already  been  ad- 
mitted, in  pursuance  of  that  general  line  of  policy.  The  pop- 
ulation of  the  Eastern  division  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
had  not  reached  the  minimum  established  in  1787  by  many 
thousands  when,  in  1802,  the  chiefs  of  the  Democratic-Re- 
publican party  at  Washington,  as  well  as  in  the  Territory,  de- 
cided that  the  time  had  come  to  bring  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

I.  OHIO. 

V. 

This  decision  was  hastened  by  a  bill  passed  by  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  at  the  session  beginning  November  23,  1801, 
declaring  the  assent  of  the  Territory  to  the  following  modi- 
fication of  the  Ordinance  respecting  the  boundaries  of  the 
States  when  they  should  be  formed  :  The  eastern  State  to 
be  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Scioto  River  and  a  line 
drawn  from  the  intersection  of  the  river  with  the  Indian 
boundary  as  fixed  in  1795  to  the  western  limit  of  the  West- 
ern Reserve ;  the  middle  State  to  be  bounded  on  the  west 


318  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

by  a  line  drawn  from  the  lower  extremity  of  George  Rogers 
Clark's  grant  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  to  the  head  of  Chicago 
River,  and  that  river  and  Lake  Michigan  ;  the  third  to  be 
bounded  west  by  the  Mississippi.1  This  was  a  Federal  plan, 
and  it  incurred  very  serious  resistance  in  the  Lower  House. 
Taking  alarm  at  this  move,  General  Worthington  hastened  to 
Washington,  where  he  succeeded  in  giving  matters  a  very  dif- 
ferent shaping. 

Soon  after  the  legislature  adjourned,  in  January,  1802,  a  cen- 
sus was  taken  which  found  45,028  persons  of  both  sexes  and 
all  ages  in  the  Territory.  The  next  step  was  for  the  friends  of 
the  measure  to  petition  Congress  for  admission.  The  special 
committee  to  which  this  petition  was  referred  reported  favor- 
ably thereon.  The  Houses  promptly  passed  the  appropriate 
bill,  which  received  the  President's  approval  and  became  a 
law,  April  3Oth.  These  are  the  main  features  of  this  act :  (i) 
The  inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  division  of  the  Territory  were 
authorized  to  form  a  constitution  and  State  government,  as- 
suming such  name  as  they  deemed  proper,  said  State  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  origi- 
nal States  in  all  respects.  (2)  The  boundaries  of  the  State 
should  be :  East,  the  Pennsylvania  line ;  south,  the  Ohio 
River;  west,  the  meridian  of  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami ; 
north,  a  due  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the  southern 
extreme  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  the  international  boundary- 
line.  Congress,  however,  reserved  the  right  to  annex  to  this 
State  that  portion  of  Michigan  included  within  the  territorial 
lines  of  1800 — that  is,  about  one-half  the  lower  peninsula — 
or  to  dispose  of  it  otherwise.  (3)  All  territory  included 
within  the  limits  of  1800,  that  these  lines  did  not  embrace, 
was  annexed  to  Indiana  Territory.  (4)  All  male  citizens  re- 
siding in  the  Territory,  having  certain  prescribed  qualifications, 
were  authorized  to  choose  representatives  to  form  a  conven- 
tion in  designated  numbers,  county  by  county,  on  the  second 

1  Chase  :  Preliminary  Sketch,  30. 


ADMISSION   OF   THE  NORTHWESTERN   STATES.     319 

Tuesday  of  October  ensuing.  (5)  The  representatives  thus 
chosen  were  authorized  to  meet  in  convention  at  Chillicothe 
the  first  Monday  of  November,  1802  ;  which  convention 
should  determine,  by  a  majority  of  its  whole  number,  whether 
it  were  now  expedient  to  form  a  constitution  and  govern- 
ment, and,  if  so,  to  form  them,  but  if  not,  then  to  provide  by 
ordinance  for  calling  a  second  convention  for  that  purpose ; 
said  constitution,  in  either  case,  to  be  republican  and  not  re- 
pugnant to  the  Ordinance.  (6)  Until  the  next  census  the 
new  State  should  be  entitled  to  one  member  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  (7)  Three  propositions  were  submitted  to 
the  convention  which,  if  accepted,  should  bind  the  United 
States  :  The  grant  to  the  State  of  section  No.  16  in  every 
township  for  the  use  of  schools,  the  grant  of  certain  salt- 
springs,  and  the  grant  of  one-twentieth  part  of  the  net  pro- 
ceeds of  all  lands  sold  by  Congress  within  the  State,  to  be 
applied  to  building  roads  connecting  the  Eastern  and  the 
Western  waters ;  provided,  the  State  would  exempt  from 
taxation  all  such  lands  for  the  term  of  five  years  from  the 
date  of  sale. 

This  was  the  first  "  enabling  act,"  so  called,  ever  enacted 
by  Congress.  It  was,  however,  the  model  of  many  succeeding 
acts  of  a  similar  nature.  It  is,  therefore,  a  curious  question, 
and  one  that  cannot  be  very  satisfactorily  answered,  how  far 
its  leading  features  were  due  to  a  statesmanlike  study  of  the 
subject,  and  how  far  to  political  exigencies.  The  act  did  not 
contain  a  gleam  of  what  was  afterward  called  "  popular  sov- 
ereignty." The  Territorial  Legislature  was  wholly  ignored. 
Neither  the  legislature  nor  the  people  themselves  were  asked 
to  pass  upon  the  question  of  entering  into  a  State  govern- 
ment. The  sole  function  of  the  electors  was  to  vote  for 
members  of  the  convention,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Con- 
gress. The  opposition  did  not  fail  to  put  these  points  very 
strongly,  as  the  bill  was  on  its  way  through  the  House  of  ' 
Representatives.  Mr.  Griswold, "of  Connecticut,  declared 
that  the  bill  "  went  to  a  consolidation  and  destruction  of  all 


320  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

the  States ; "  that  the  districting  of  the  Territory  and  the  ap- 
portionment of  the  members  was  arbitrary  and  unjust ;  that 
the  whole  scheme  was  beyond  the  power  of  Congress  and  an 
invasion  of  popular  rights ;  and  that  the  next  thing  would  be 
a  similar  dictation  to  the  States  already  in  the  Union.  In 
the  Territory,  the  opponents  of  the  measure  said  these  features 
of  the  bill  were  due  to  the  fear  of  the  party  managers  that  the 
legislature  and  the  people  could  not  be  trusted.  There  is 
probably  some  truth  in  this  charge ;  but  the  framers  of  the 
Ordinance  had  created  a  centralized  government,  and  the  feel- 
ing was  still  strong,  notwithstanding  the  complaint  that  West- 
ern Democrats  made  of  their  "  colonial  government,"  that 
there  was  a  very  wide  difference  between  a  territory  and  a 
State,  even  when  the  time  came  to  frame  a  constitution. 
"  Popular  sovereignty  "  was  due  to  that  progress  of  democratic 
ideas  which  the  peopling  of  the  West  did  so  much  to  facili- 
tate. 

Other  objections  were  strongly  urged.  Mr.  Fearing,  the 
Territorial  delegate,  said  Congress  had  exhausted  its  power 
when  it  consented  to  the  admission  of  the  State  before  its 
population  reached  sixty  thousand.  He  argued,  also,  that  Con- 
gress could  not  divide  the  district,  admitting  part  at  one  time 
and  part  at  another ;  that  the  division  proposed  would  throw 
Lake  Erie  out  of  the  State ;  and  that  the  great  distance  of  the 
Michigan  people  from  Vincennes  would  make  their  annexa- 
tion to  Indiana  exceedingly  inconvenient.  Mr.  Bayard,  of 
Delaware,  urged  that  the  population  of  the  State,  as  bounded, 
would  not  exceed  thirty-nine  thousand ;  that  this  was  a 
smaller  number  than  any  State  in  the  Union  then  had ;  and 
that  Wayne  County  should  come  in  with  the  rest  of  the  dis- 
trict, subject  to  the  reserved  right  of  Congress  to  alter  the 
boundary  afterward.  Mr.  Griswold  said  that  not  less  than 
$40,000  would  be  devoted  to  roads,  a  "  sum  too  large  to  be 
withdrawn  from  the  national  treasury  and  devoted  to  local 
'objects  ; "  but  Mr.  Fearing  thought  one-half  the  proceeds  of 
the  lands  should  be  given  to  build  roads  within  the  Territory, 


ADMISSION   OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN    STATES.      321 

and  a  proposition  to  that  effect  actually  commanded  twenty- 
five  votes.  It  was  also  objected  that  Mr.  Gallatin,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  owned  lands  that  would  be  benefited 
by  these  improvements.  The  friends  of  the  bill  replied 
to  these  arguments  as  best  they  could.  Mr.  Giles,  of  Vir- 
ginia, made  the  very  just  observation  that  a  glance  at  the  map 
sufficed  to  show  that  the  boundary  of  1800,  running  from  the 
Ohio  to  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  was  necessarily  temporary, 
and  that  the  State  as  bounded  by  the  bill  was  one  of  the 
most  compact  and  convenient  in  the  Union.  An  analysis  of 
the  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  shows  the  sources 
of  the  anxiety  to  bring  the  State  into  the  Union  at  an  early 
day.  The  47  affirmative  votes  came :  Twenty-six  from  the 
South,  14  from  the  Middle  States,  and  9  from  New  England ; 
the  29  negative  votes  came  :  Nine  from  the  South,  5  from  the 
Middle  States,  and  15  from  New  England.  Virginia  gave  15 
votes  for  and  one  against  the  bill ;  Massachusetts,  5  for  and  5 
against;  Connecticut,  none  for  and  5  against.  This  vote  is 
one  of  many  proofs  that,  at  the  opening  of  the  century,  the 
Middle  and  Southern  States  were  far  more  at  touch  with  the 
West  than  New  England.  The  vote  of  Dr.  Manasseh  Cut- 
ler, then  a  member  of  the  House  from  Massachusetts,  is  reg- 
istered in  the  negative. 

The  battle  fought  in  the  House  of  Representatives  was 
fought  over  again  with  the  same  weapons  in  the  Territory. 
The  exclusion  of  Wayne  County  caused  the  deepest  dissatis- 
faction to  all  Federalists,  and  particularly  to  the  people  of 
the  county,  most  of  whom  were  Federalists.  A  letter  writ- 
ten to  Judge  Burnet  by  Mr.  Solomon  Sibley,  of  Detroit, 
August  2,  1802,  puts  the  case  very  strongly.  Annexation  to 
Indiana  will  be  the  "  eternal  ruin  "  of  the  county ;  but  the 
ruin  of  five  thousand  people  is  of  little  consequence  to  the 
half-dozen  political  aspirants  who  have  brought  things  to  the 
present  pass.  The  exclusion  of  the  county  was  due  to  Judges 
Symmes  and  Meigs,  and  "  Sir  Thomas,"  as  he  calls  General 
Worthington,  who  foresaw  that  its  people  would  be  "  a  dead 

21 


322  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

weight  against  them." '  Politics  may  have  been  the  cause  of 
the  peculiar  grievance  of  the  people  of  Detroit,  which  was, 
no  doubt,  a  considerable  one  for  a  time ;  but  in  the  end  it 
was  most  fortunate  that  the  five-State  plan  was  adopted 
rather  than  the  three-State  plan.  Still  more,  the  grief  of  the 
Wayne  County  people  was  of  short  duration.  The  political 
character  of  the  population  points  to  the  conclusion  that 
those  interested  in  such  questions  were  few  in  number ;  and 
Burnet  tells  us  that  the  project  of  a  new  territory  north  of 
the  Ordinance  line,  having  Detroit  as  a  capital,  with  the  ac- 
companying offices,  promised  to  the  leaders  of  opinion,  if  they 
came  out  promptly  and  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  new  State 
on  the  plan  proposed  by  Congress,  effectually  won  these  few 
over  to  the  popular  side.3 

The  flanks  of  those  who  opposed  a  new  State,  or  favored 
bounding  it  on  the  west  by  the  Scioto,  had  been  completely 
turned.  At  first  they  talked  about  a  further  effort  to  post- 
pone the  issue.  A  public  meeting  of  citizens  of  Dayton  and 
vicinity,  held  September  26th,  unanimously  passed  a  resolution 
denouncing  the  enabling  act  as  a  usurpation  of  power,  bearing 
a  "  striking  resemblance  "  to  the  course  of  Great  Britain  in  re- 
gard to  the  colonies  ;  expressing  deep  sympathy  with  their 
fellow-citizens  of  Wayne  County,  and  calling  upon  the  Ter- 
ritorial Legislature  to  assert  itself  by  causing  a  new  census 
to  be  taken  and  by  calling  a  convention  to  frame  a  constitu- 
tion. But  these  plans  came  to  nothing.  The  members  of 
the  convention  were  duly  elected,  and  on  November  i,  1802, 
they  came  together  in  Chillicothe,  and  organized  for  business. 
In  his  unfortunate  address  to  the  convention,  Governor  St. 
Clair  stated,  in  very  strong  terms,  the  ordinary  Federalist 
objections  to  the  Enabling  act.  He  affirmed  that  no  act  of 
Congress  was  necessary  to  enable  the  Territory  to  form  a  State 
government,  as  the  right  was  secured  to  them  by  the  Ordi- 
nance ;  declared  that  the  people  of  Wayne  County  had  been 

1  Bumet :  Notes,  494  et  seq.  *  Notes,  337,  338. 


ADMISSION   OF   THE  NORTHWESTERN   STATES.     323 

"  bartered  away  like  sheep  in  a  market ; "  and  urged  the  forma- 
tion of  a  convention  for  the  whole  Territory  and  a  demand  for 
admission  to  the  Union.  "  If  we  submit  to  the  degradation 
[imposed  by  the  Enabling  act]  we  should  be  trodden  upon, 
and,  what  is  worse,  we  should  deserve  to  be  trodden  upon." ' 

The  convention  had  first  to  decide  whether  it  would  itself 
form  a  constitution  or  call  a  second  convention  to  do  that 
work.  This  could  hardly  have  been  a  doubtful  question,  no 
matter  what  the  political  antecedents  of  the  members.  The 
opposition  totally  collapsed,  Judge  Ephraim  Cutler,  of  Mari- 
etta, being  the  only  man  who  voted  to  refer  the  matter  to  a 
second  convention.  The  convention  proceeded  with  such  ex- 
pedition that  it  adjourned,  November  2pth,  having  completed 
its  task. 

Attention  can  here  be  drawn  to  only  one  feature  of  the 
constitution  that  the  convention  framed  ;  others  will  be  men- 
tioned in  future  connections. 

And  first,  the  Chillicothe  convention  planted  the  seed  of 
controversies  that  affected  the  boundaries  of  three  States. 
The  fifth  compact  of  1787  ordained  that  there  should  be  not 
less  than  three  States,  nor  more  than  five,  in  the  territory  be- 
yond the  Ohio ;  if  three,  the  lines  of  division  should  be  the 
meridian  of  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  and  the  Wabash 
and  the  meridian  of  Vincennes,  from  the  Ohio  River  to  the 
international  line  ;  if  four  or  five,  then  the  lower  States  should 
be  separated  from  the  upper  one  or  ones  by  the  parallel  pass- 
ing through  the  southern  bend  or  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan. 
North  of  this  parallel  the  whole  subject  was  left  to  the  discre- 
tion of  Congress.  No  legislation  could  be  more  binding  than 
this  east  and  west  line;  it  was  forever  unalterable,  except  by 
common  consent,  and  yet  it  was  eventually  set  aside  through- 
out its  entire  length  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Mississippi  River. 
The  act  of  1800  dividing  the  Territory  seems  to  have  assumed 
that  the  three-State  plan  would  be  followed  ;  but  the  Enabling 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  II.,  592  et  seq. 


324  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Act  for  Ohio,  of  two  years  later,  proceeded  on  the  other  theory. 
That  act  bounded  the  new  State  in  the  northwest  by  the  line 
of  1787,  thus  reaffirming  the  Ordinance.  But  the  convention, 
and  this  is  the  seed  planted  at  Chillicothe,  inserted  a  proviso 
in  the  Constitution  of  Ohio  that,  in  case  the  line  should  be 
found  not  to  intersect  Lake  Erie,  or  to  intersect  it  east  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Maumee, River,  then,  with  the  consent  of  Con- 
gress, the  boundary  should  be  a  straight  line  running  from 
the  southerly  extreme  of  the  Lake  to  the  most  northerly  cape 
of  Maumee  Bay,  from  its  intersection  with  the  Miami  merid- 
ian to  the  international  boundary-line.  Judge  Burnet  says  the 
understanding  had  always  been  that  the  Ordinance  line  would 
cross  the  strait  connecting  the  two  lakes  between  Detroit  and 
the  River  Raisin  ;  but  that,  while  the  convention  of  1802  was 
in  progress,  an  old  hunter,  familiar  with  the  region,  appeared 
in  Chillicothe,  and  imparted  to  some  of  the  members  the  in- 
formation that  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  was  much  farther 
south  than  had  been  supposed.1  Whether  this  hunter's  story 
was  true  or  not,  and  whether  it  was  the  cause  of  the  boundary- 
proviso,  as  Burnet  states,  it  well  illustrates  the  state  of  geo- 
graphical knowledge  touching  the  Northwest  at  that  time, 
and  the  sources  of  information  upon  which  men  conducting 
grave  public  business  were  sometimes  compelled  to  draw. 
The  act  of  1803  recognizing  Ohio  said  not  a  word  about  this 
proviso;  but  the  act  of  1805  creating  the  Territory  of  Michi- 
gan reaffirmed  the  Ordinance  line. 

Ohio  was  never,  in  set  terms,  admitted  to  the  Union  ;  but 
an  act  entitled  "  An  Act  to  provide  for  the  execution  of  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  within  the  State  of  Ohio  "  was 
equivalent  to  the  customary  act  of  admission,  and  the  date  of 
its  approval,  February  19,  1803,  is  the  proper  date  of  admission.* 

1  Burnet :  Notes,  360,  361. 

1  The  date  of  the  admission  of  Ohio  is  the  subject  of  much  controversy,  and 
has  given  rise  to  a  considerable  literature.  As  many  as  seven  dates  have  been  as- 
signed, but  of  these  only  three  are  worthy  of  mention  :  April  30,  1802,  the  date 
of  the  enabling  act ;  November  29,  1802,  the  date  of  the  adjournment  of  the 


ADMISSION   OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      325 

The  act  of  1802  assigned  the  thirty-five  members  of  the 
convention  to  the  counties  as  follows  :  Trumbull  two,  Jeffer- 
son five,  Belmont  two,  Washington  four,  Ross  five,  Fairfield 
two,  Adams  three,  Hamilton  ten,  and  Clermont  two.  The 
counties  bearing  these  names  in  1802  were  much  larger  than 
the  counties  bearing  the  same  names  to-day;  but  as  the 
names  have  remained  with  the  original  settlements,  a  glance 
at  the  map  of  1887  will  show  where  the  people  lived  for  whom 
the  constitution  was  immediately  made.  Save  only  the  two 
from  Trumbull  County,  the  thirty-five  delegates  all  came  from 
the  Southern  part  of  the  State,  and  the  large  majority  from  a 
narrow  strip  of  territory  fringing  the  Ohio  River.  Excluding 
the  small  beginnings  made  on  the  Western  Reserve,  the  Ohio 
of  1802  lay  within  the  sweep  of  the  Pennsylvania- Virginia 
current  of  emigration  to  the  West.  Of  the  twelve  members 
of  the  convention  whose  previous  history  I  have  been  able  to 
trace,  six  came  from  Virginia,  two  from  Massachusetts,  and  one 
each  from  Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  Maryland,  and  Con- 
necticut. Still  further,  thirty-three  of  the  forty-seven  men 
who  represented  the  State  in  Congress  from  1803  to  1829  came : 
Nine  from  Pennsylvania,  six  each  from  Virginia,  Connecticut, 
and  New  Jersey,  three  from  New  York,  and  one  each  from 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  Kentucky.  The  others 
are  unknown.  Judge  Jacob  Burnet,  who  rendered  Ohio  and 
the  Northwest  most  valuable  services  as  a  member  of  the 
Territorial  Council,  as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  as 
Senator,  as  well  as  author  of  the  "  Notes,"  was  from  New 
Jersey.  These  facts,  in  connection  with  those  of  a  similar 
nature  found  in  the  last  chapter,  plainly  indicate  the  origin  of 
the  forces  that  shaped  the  early  destinies  of  Ohio. 

Chillicothe  convention  ;  February  19,  1803,  the  date  of  the  act  of  recognition 
mentioned  above.  Dr.  L  W.  Andrews  has  proved  very  conclusively  that  this 
last  is  the  proper  date.  See  "  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio— their  Admission  into 
the  Union,"  in  Magazine  of  American  History  for  October,  1887.  Still,  the  act 
of  February  19,  1803,  after  recapitulating  the  history,  says  :  "Whereby  the  said 
State  has  become  one  of  the  United  States  of  America." 


326  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

II.  INDIANA. 

The  admission  of  Indiana  was  effected  so  quietly  as  scarcely 
to  cause  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of  public  affairs.  In  response 
to  a  petition  from  the  Territorial  Legislature,  Congress  passed 
the  requisite  enabling  act,  which  was  approved,  April  19,  1816. 
The  second  section  of  this  act  bounded  the  State,  east,  by  the 
boundary  line  of  Ohio ;  south,  by  the  Ohio ;  west,  by  the 
middle  of  the  Wabash  from  its  mouth  to  a  point  where  a  due 
north  line  drawn  from  Vincennes  would  last  touch  the  north- 
western shore  of  said  river,  and  from  thence  by  said  due-north 
line;  and  north,  by  an  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  a  point 
ten  miles  north  of  the  southern  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan. 
The  convention  was  required  to  ratify  these  boundaries.  This 
last  line  deprived  Michigan  of  a  strip  of  territory  ten  miles 
wide  across  the  whole  northern  end  of  Indiana,  that  had  been 
solemnly  guaranteed  to  her  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787;  but  I 
have  not  discovered  traces  of  remonstrance  then  or  after- 
ward. The  act  was  justified  at  the  time  on  the  ground  that 
the  State  should  have  a  lake-frontage,  which  the  line  of  1787 
would  not  give.  A  convention  elected  in  pursuance  of  this 
act  sat  at  Corydon,  June  10-29,  an(*  framed  a  constitution. 
Indiana  was  formally  admitted  to  the  Union,  December  n, 
1816.  At  the  close  of  the  previous  year  the  population  was 
68,897.'  The  petition  of  the  legislature  praying  for  admission 
said  the  inhabitants  were  principally  composed  of  emigrants 
from  every  part  of  the  Union  ;  but  the  names  of  the  counties 
and  the  facts  of  emigration  show  that  a  large  majority  of  them 
came  from  the  Middle  and  Southern  States. 

III.  ILLINOIS. 

The  Enabling  Act  for  Illinois,  which  bears  the  date,  April 
1 8,  1818,  bounded  the  State  on  the  east  by  the  Indiana  line 

1  Dillon  :  History  of  Indiana,  555. 


ADMISSION    OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      327 

as  fixed  two  years  before,  on  the  south  and  west  by  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  on  the  north  by  the  parallel  42° 
30'  north  latitude.  This  last  was  a  much  more  serious  infrac- 
tion of  the  Ordinance  than  the  Indiana  line,  and  it  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  allusion. 

The  enabling  act,  as  originally  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  Mr.  Pope,  the  Territorial  delegate,  adhered 
strictly  to  the  Ordinance  line  ;  but  that  statesman,  thinking 
better  of  the  matter,  moved,  April  3d,  the  line  of  42°  30'  as  an 
amendment.  He  urged  that  the  State,  lying  between  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Lake  Basin,  and  resting  upon  both, 
should  be  brought  into  relation  with  the  States  east  by  way 
of  the  lakes  a!5  well  as  the  States  south  by  way  of  the  river  ; 
said  if  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  were  included  within 
her  limits,  the  State  would  be  interested  in  a  canal  connecting 
the  two  systems  of  waters  and  in  improving  the  harbor  on  the 
lake ;  insisted  upon  the  State's  right  to  a  lake-frontage ;  and 
also  used  an  argument  that,  from  1789  to  1861,  was  made  to 
do  duty  in  almost  every  kind  of  political  emergency.  If  shut 
out  from  the  Northern  waters,  then,  in  case  of  national  dis- 
ruption, the  interests  of  the  State  would  be  to  join  a  Southern 
and  Western  Confederacy ;  but  if  a  large  portion  of  it  could 
be  made  dependent  upon  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the 
Northern  Lakes,  connected  as  they  were  with  the  Eastern 
States,  a  rival  interest  would  be  created  to  check  the  wish  for 
a  Western  or  Southern  confederacy ;  and  her  interests  would 
then  be  balanced,  and  her  inclinations  turned  to  the  North. 
This  reasoning  was  convincing  to  the  South  and  the  North 
alike,  apparently,  for  the  House  adopted  the  amendment 
without  a  division.  The  consent  of  the  people  of  Wisconsin 
was  not  asked,  or  the  preference  of  those  living  in  the  district 
consulted.  As  the  line  of  1787  is  in  latitude  41°  37' 07.9'' 
north,  the  tract  of  territory  that  Congress  thus  generously 
gave  to  Illinois,  at  the  expense  of  Wisconsin,  and  in  utter 
disregard  of  the  Ordinance,  is  52'  52.1"  of  latitude,  or  a  little 
more  than  sixty-one  miles,  in  width,  and  in  length,  from  the 


328  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

lake  to  the  river;  it  contains  8,500  square  miles  of  as  good 
soil  as  exists  in  the  Northwest,  as  well  as  many  fine  streams 
and  the  sites  of  such  cities  as  Chicago,  Rockford,  Freeport, 
Galena,  and  Dixon,  not  to  mention  smaller  ones. 

The  Illinois  State  Convention  sat  at  Kaskaskia,  complet- 
ing its  work,  August  26,  1818.  The  resolution  of  Congress 
declaring  the  admission  of  the  State  to  the  Union  bears  the 
date,  December  3d,  of  the  same  year.  A  severe  struggle  on 
the  practical  recognition  of  slavery  will  be  noticed  in  a  future 
chapter.  The  population,  which  was  mostly  found  in  the 
Southern  part  of  the  State,  was  less  than  that  required  by  the 
Ordinance.  The  census  of  1810  assigns  12,282,  the  census  of 
1820,  55,162,  people  to  Illinois. 

IV.  MICHIGAN. 

We  come  again  to  Michigan,  the  first  part  of  the  North- 
west visited  by  civilized  men,  and  the  last,  except  Wisconsin, 
to  receive  a  permanent  form  of  government.  No  other  part 
of  the  United  States  has  seen  so  many  changes  of  national 
and  local  jurisdiction.  It  has  belonged  to  France,  to  Eng- 
land, and  to  the  United  States;  from  1796  to  1803  it  was 
part  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  from  1803  to  1805  a  part  of 
Indiana,  and  then  an  independent  territory  until  its  admis- 
sion to  the  Union  in  1837.  Judge  Cooley  has  appropriately 
sketched  its  history  as  a  "  history  of  governments  "  *  No 
other  name  of  an  organized  territory  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  has  stood  so.  long  upon  the  map.  Moreover,  the 
growth  of  population  was  for  a  long  time  exceedingly  slow. 
In  explaining  this  fact,  Judge  Cooley  mentions  the  late  day 
at  which  the  Indian  titles  to  the  soil  were  eased,  the  fur- 
trade  within  the  Territory,  the 'false  ideas  of  Michigan  geo- 
graphy, and  the  want  of  roads ;  but,  plainly,  these  are  only 
proximate  causes,  and  merely  another  way  of  saying  that  civ- 

1  Preface  to  Michigan,  in  Commonwealth  Series. 


ADMISSION   OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      329 

ilization  was  slow  in  taking  possession  of  the  beautiful  penin- 
sula. 

Some  of  the  main  causes  of  the  early  discovery  and  ex- 
ploration of  the  regions  of  the  Upper  Lakes  also  contributed 
to  their  late  development.  What  were  the  opportunities  of 
the  French,  and  what  use  they  made  of  them,  has  been  shown 
in  earlier  chapters.  Beyond  discovery,  exploration,  and  a 
feeble  colonial  life  that  was  eventually  extinguished,  they 
did  nothing  for  the  Northwest.  Had  the  St.  Lawrence  fallen 
to  England  that  country  would  not  have  been  so  promptly 
explored,  but  it  would  have  been  more  promptly  peopled. 
It  is  easy  to  conceive  a  contingency  in  which  the  shores  of 
the  Lakes  would  have  become  the  seats  of  civilization  much 
earlier  than  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  As  things  turned,  how- 
ever, Michigan  drew  her  emigrants  by  the  northern  channel 
of  emigration,  from  the  Northern  part  of  the  Atlantic  Plain. 
But  here  she  was  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with 
Ohio,  particularly  the  Southern  part.  Emigration  moved  less 
promptly  by  this  channel  than  by  those  farther  south,  and 
when  it  did  move  it  was  for  many  years  absorbed  by  West- 
ern New  York  and  Northern  Ohio.  It  was  not  until  the  ap- 
pearance of  steam-boats  on  the  Lakes,  in  1818,  the  opening 
of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825,  and  the  partial  filling  up  of  the 
inviting  fields  of  emigration  farther  to  the  east,  that  the 
period  of  active  settlement  in  Michigan  began.  While  the 
population  of  Michigan  merely  doubled  from  1800  to  1820, 
the  population  of  Ohio  increased  twelve-fold. 

But  political  development  was  slow  from  another  cause. 
It  was  many  years  before  the  inertia  given  to  the  community 
by  the  habitants  could  be  overcome.  Mr.  Sibley  wrote  to 
Judge  Burnet  in  1802:  "Nothing  frightens  the  Canadians 
like  taxes.  They  would  prefer  to  be  treated  like  dogs,  and 
kenneled  under  the  whip  of  a  tyrant,  than  contribute  to  the 
support  of  a  free  government."  In  1818,  under  the  belief 
that  the  Territory  had  the  requisite  population,  the  question 
of  entering  on  the  second  stage  of  government  provided  for 


330  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

by  the  Ordinance  was  submitted  to  the  people,  but  was  lost 
by  a  decided  majority,  and  it  was  not  until  1827  that  that  end 
was  fully  consummated.  Plainly,  the  old  regime  had  done 
its  work  as  thoroughly  as  Colbert  could  have  desired. 

But  in  time  steps  forward  began  to  be  taken.  In  1832 
the  people,  at  a  popular  election,  cast  a  large  majority  vote 
in  favor  of  entering  into  a  State  government.  In  1834  a  cen- 
sus showed  that  between  the  two  lakes  and  north  of  the  line 
of  1787  there  was  a  population  of  87,278.  Proceeding  upon 
the  theory  held  by  St.  Clair  and  other  Federalists  in  1802, 
that  no  enabling  act  was  needed,  the  Territorial  Legislature, 
January  26,  1835,  passed  an  act  calling  a  convention  to 
frame  a  State  constitution,  and  appointing  April  4th  the  day 
for  the  election  of  delegates.  This  election  was  duly  held  ; 
the  convention  sat  in  Detroit,  May  nth  to  June  29th;  the 
people  ratified  the  constitution  framed,  at  an  election  held 
November  2d  ;  President  Jackson  laid  it  before  Congress  in  a 
special  message,  December  gth,  and  the  State  would,  no  doubt, 
have  been  promptly  admitted  had  it  not  encountered  a  series 
of  adverse  influences  that  render  "  the  Michigan  case  "  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  admission  of  new 
States.  The  first  and  most  formidable  of  these  was  a  boun- 
dary-quarrel with  Ohio. 

The  Constitution  for  Michigan  framed  at  Detroit  assumed 
in  its  preamble  the  boundaries  of  the  Territory  as  established 
in  1805,  viz. :  The  Ordinance  line  on  the  south ;  a  line  drawn 
through  the  middle  of  Lake  Michigan  to  its  northerly  extrem- 
ity, and  a  line  due  north  from  that  point  on  the  west ;  and  the 
international  boundary  on  the  north  and  east.  This  was 
overlapping  Indiana  as  bounded  in  1816,  and  the  provisional 
boundary  of  Ohio  adopted  in  1802.  The  Indiana  and  Illinois 
boundaries  did  not  touch  the  Ohio-Michigan  controversy  that 
we  are  now  to  sketch,  save  as  they  tended  to  destroy  the  au- 
thority of  the  Ordinance. 

Between  1802  and  1835  some  history  was  made  on  the 
Northwestern  Ohio  frontier.  In  1817  a  Government  surveyor 


ADMISSION    OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      331 

laid  down  the  boundary  in  conformity  with  the  Chillicothe 
idea,  and  a  little  later  another  ran  the  line  in  conformity  with 
the  Michigan  idea.  These  lines  are  called  the  "  Harris  "  and 
"  Fulton "  lines,  from  the  names  of  the  two  surveyors.  In 
1812  Amos  Spafford,  collector  of  the  port  of  Miami,  wrote 
to  Governor  Meigs,  saying  the  fifty  families  comprising  that 
settlement  desired  to  have  the  laws  of  Ohio  extended  over 
them ;  that  the  few  who  objected  were  office-holders  under 
the  Governor  of  Michigan,  who  were  determined  to  enforce 
the  Michigan  laws  ;  that  the  people  regarded  this  a  great  usur- 
pation, and  that  he  anticipated  serious  trouble  unless  the 
matter  was  adjusted.  In  1823  Dr.  Horatio  Conant,  of 
Fort  Meigs,  wrote  to  Ethan  Allen  Brown,  Senator  from  Ohio, 
that  the  Michigan  jurisdiction  was  extended  to  the  territory 
between  the  Harris  and  Fulton  lines,  with  the  decided  appro- 
bation of  the  inhabitants,  which  "  makes  it  impossible  for  the 
State  officers  of  Ohio  to  interfere  without  exciting  disturb- 
ance." 1  The  territory  was  in  possession  of  Michigan  all  this 
time ;  it  had  been  organized  into  a  township,  and  roads  had 
been  cut  at  her  expense.  The  letters  of  Spafford  and  Conant 
show  that  the  people  sometimes  inclined  to  one  side  and  some- 
times to  the  other;  which  was  not  unnatural,  considering  that 
they  were  settlers  in  a  wilderness  who  had  formed  no  jurisdic- 
tional  attachments,  and  that  sometimes  their  interests  seemed 
to  incline  them  to  Columbus,  and  then  again  to  Detroit.  But 
now  there  came  a  change.  The  city  of  Toledo  was  founded 
in  1832 ;  and  the  inhabitants  desired  to  belong  to  Ohio  and  not 
to  Michigan.  Especially  were  they  anxious  to  secure  the  full 
advantage  of  the  Miami  Canal,  then  in  course  of  construction 
from  Cincinnati  to  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee.  The  strip 
of  disputed  land  extended  from  Indiana  to  Lake  Erie,  eight 
miles  wide  at  one  end  and  five  at  the  other,  containing  four 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  square  miles.  The  land  was  rich  and 

1  The  two  letters  are  found  in  Knapp's  History  of  the  Maumee  Valley,  242, 
243- 


332  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

fertile,  but  the  prizes  in  the  contest  that  opened  in  1835  were 
the  mouth  of  the  Maumee  and  the  young  but  promising 
city  of  Toledo.  Evidently,  the  Ordinance  line  did  not  well 
suit  territorial  relations.  It  excluded  Indiana  and  Illinois 
from  Lake  Michigan,  and  cut  the  people  of  the  Maumee  off 
from  their  natural  connections.  To  be  sure,  these  business 
arguments  have  no  weight  to  the  mind  of  a  jurist  in  1887;  but 
they  had  great  weight  with  the  forceful  people  of  the  North- 
west in  1816,  1818,  and  1835.  They  would  naturally  demand : 
"  Why  should  a  line  established  in  ignorance  of  geography 
and  in  advance  of  territorial  development  be  suffered  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  our  convenience  ?  " 

In  1835  Governor  Lucas  brought  the  boundary-question 
before  the  Ohio  Legislature.  That  body  promptly  extended 
the  contiguous  Ohio  counties  over  the  disputed  tract,  and 
directed  the  Governor  to  appoint  three  commissioners  to  sur- 
vey and  re-mark  the  Harris  line.  At  the  end  of  March,  Gov- 
ernor Lucas,  attended  by  his  staff  and  the  boundary  commis- 
sioners, arrived  at  Perrysburg  to  carry  out  the  directions  of 
the  Legislature.  As  resistance  was  expected,  General  Bell 
and  some  six  hundred  Ohio  militia  were  called  into  the  field. 
These  went  into  camp  at  the  same  place.  Governor  Mason 
of  Michigan,  attended  by  General  Brown  at  the  head  of 
about  one  thousand  Michigan  militia,  took  possession  of 
Toledo.  At  this  juncture  Richard  Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
B.  C.  Howard,  of  Baltimore,  arrived  in  the  tented  valley  of 
the  Maumee,  sent  by  President  Jackson  as  messengers  of 
peace.  Their  efforts  to  effect  a  compromise  until  Congress 
could  settle  the  dispute  accomplished  nothing  more  than  the 
disbanding  of  the  militia.  What  is  variously  known  as  "  Gov- 
ernor Lucas's  War,"  the  "  Toledo  War,"  etc.,  came  to  a  sud- 
den end.  It  was  a  bloodless  war ;  it  had  some  serious  and 
many  comic  aspects,  and  long  furnished  material  for  merri- 
ment in  both  Ohio  and  Michigan.  The  further  local  inci- 
dents of  the  controversy,  such  as  the  attempt  of  Ohio  to  run 
the  Harris  line  and  the  seizure  of  some  of  the  surveying 


ADMISSION   OF    THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      333 

party  by  Michigan  officers ;  the  special  session  of  the  Ohio 
Legislature,  at  which  it  enacted  a  law  to  prevent  the  forcible 
abduction  of  the  citizens  of  Ohio,  created  Lucas  County,  ex- 
tending to  the  Harris  line,  appropriated  $30x3,000  out  of 
the  treasury  to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  in  relation  to  the 
northern  boundary,  and  authorized  the  Governor  to  borrow  as 
much  more  on  the  credit  of  the  State ;  the  arrest  and  impris- 
onment by  Michigan  officers  of  citizens  of  Ohio  ;  the  excite- 
ment in  both  the  State  and  the  Territory ;  the  disturbed 
state  of  affairs  at  Toledo — these  and  other  incidents  of  local 
interest  must  be  passed  by.  The  quarrel  was  settled  by  poli- 
ticians at  Washington,  and  not  by  militia  generals  and  sheriffs 
on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  quarrel  was  between  Ohio  and  the 
United  States.  The  Attorney-General  gave  President  Jack- 
son an  opinion  that,  until  Congress  should  change  the  law, 
the  land  between  the  Harris  and  Fulton  lines  belonged  to 
Michigan  ;  and  this  opinion  was  properly  binding  on  the 
President  as  long  as  Mr.  Butler  continued  his  law  adviser. 
But  the  President  was  in  a  strait.  A  presidential  election 
would  occur  the  next  year,  and  he  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  candidacy  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
both  of  which  States  had  profited  by  the  disregard  of  the  line 
of  1787,  sympathized  with  Ohio;  and  the  three  States  together 
had  a  large  number  of  votes  to  be  given  to  either  the  Demo- 
cratic or  the  Whig  candidate.  Michigan  stood  alone,  only  a 
territory.  John  Quincy  Adams  thus  defined  the  situation  : 
"  Never  in  the  course  of  my  life  have  I  known  a  controversy 
of  which  all  the  right  was  so  clearly  on  one  side  and  all  the 
power  so  overwhelmingly  on  the  other;  never  a  case  where 
the  temptation  was  so  intense  to  take  the  strongest  side  and 
the  duty  of  taking  the  weakest  was  so  thankless."  l  Very 
naturally,  the  President  counselled  both  sides  to  keep  the 
peace,  but  he  was  understood  to  lean  to  the  Ohio  side. 

1  Cooley  :  Michigan,  219. 


334  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

But  this  was  not  all  the  politics  involved  in  the  case.  The 
State  of  Arkansas  also  stood  at  the  door  of  the  Union  knock- 
ing for  admission.  The  administration  party  was  anxious 
that  both  the  States  be  admitted  in  time  to  vote  at  the  en- 
suing presidential  election,  for  it  was  expected  that  both 
would  be  Democratic  ;  but  Michigan  was  a  free  State,  Arkan- 
sas a  slave  State,  and  although  it  was  understood  that,  in  this 
scale,  one  would  balance  the  other,  there  was  yet  an  anxiety 
on  either  side  lest  the  other  should  get  the  advantage. 

Besides,  a  State  government  had  been  organized.  A 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  well  as  legisla- 
tive and  executive  officers,  had  been  elected,  and  judges  had 
been  appointed.  The  legislature  had  met  and  chosen  the 
national  Senators.  President  Jackson,  displeased  at  the  ac- 
tivity of  Governor  Mason  on  the  boundary-controversy,  ap- 
pointed a  new  Territorial  governor  to  succeed  him,  whom  the 
people  would  not  receive,  and  whom  they  soon  joked  and 
laughed  across  Lake  Michigan  into  Wisconsin,  which  was  still 
a  part  of  Michigan  Territory.  This  was  the  local  situation  : 
Theoretically,  the  Territorial  government  was  in  force,  but 
practically,  the  State  government.  Obviously,  such  a  state 
of  things  could  not  long  continue  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  coun- 
try. 

Acts  for  the  admission  of  the  two  States  were  finally  ap- 
proved, June  15,  1836.  The  one  admitted  Arkansas  uncon- 
ditionally, the  other  Michigan  with  a  very  serious  condition, 
that  is  hinted  by  the  very  title  of  the  law  :  "  An  Act  to  es- 
tablish the  northern  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and 
to  provide  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Michigan  into 
the  Union,"  etc.  Section  i  gave  the  district  in  dispute  to 
Ohio ;  but  Section  2  made  Michigan  a  territorial  compensa- 
tion in  the  Upper  Peninsula,  drawing  the  line  separating  her 
from  Wisconsin  through  Green  Bay,  the  Menomonee  River, 
Lake  of  the  Desert,  and  Montreal  River.  These  arrange- 
ments Michigan  was  required  to  assent  to  by  a  delegate  con- 
vention elected  for  that  sole  purpose,  before  she  could  take 


ADMISSION   OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      335 

her  place  in  the  family  of  States.  A  convention  that  sat  at 
Ann  Arbor  on  the  fourth  Monday  of  September  rejected  this 
overture  by  a  very  decided  majority,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed 
that  nothing  had  been  concluded. 

But  now  the  politicians  came  again  upon  the  scene.  Ar- 
guments in  favor  of  the  State's  yielding  were  put  in  circu- 
lation. Political  arithmeticians  at  Washington  figured  out 
how  much  the  five  per  cent,  on  the  public  lands  sold  within 
the  State  would  yield,  affirming  that  it  would  all  be  lost. 
The  Senators  and  Representatives  were  desirous  of  taking 
their  seats  in  Congress.  President  Jackson  and  his  partisans 
exerted  a  steady  pressure  on  the  same  side.  The  edge  of  dis- 
appointment becoming  somewhat  dulled,  the  people  of  the 
State,  with  characteristic  American  good  humor,  began  to 
look  on  the  bright  side,  and  before  the  end  of  October  Demo- 
cratic county  conventions  were  calling  for  a  second  State  con- 
vention to  pass  upon  the  terms  of  admission.  The  State 
Governor  replied  that  there  was  no  time  to  call  a  second 
convention,  and  that  he  had  no  authority  to  call  one,  but 
hinted  that  the  Government  at  Washington  might,  possibly, 
recognize  a  popular  convention.  Accordingly,  five  citizens, 
"  in  the  name  of  the  people  in  their  primary  capacity,"  called 
a  convention  to  meet  in  Ann  Arbor,  December  I4th.  This 
was  in  pursuance  of  a  scheme  worked  out  in  the  Democratic 
caucuses.  Although  the  elections  of  delegates  were  much 
ridiculed,  they  were  still  held,  and  although  the  convention 
was  stigmatized  as  the  "  frost-bitten  convention,"  it  still  sat, 
and  did  the  work  for  which  it  had  been  called — that  is,  "  as- 
sented "  to  the  terms  of  the  act  of  admission,  having  no  more 
authority  to  do  so  than  the  crew  of  a  Detroit  schooner  or  a 
lumberman's  camp  in  the  Valley  of  Grand  River.  Still  fur- 
ther, and  most  astounding  of  all,  the  two  Houses  of  Congress, 
by  large  majorities,  passed  an  act,  approved  January  26,  1837, 
accepting  this  convention  as  meeting  the  requirements  of  the 
act  of  admission,  and  so  declared  Michigan  one  of  the  Unit- 
ed States.  The  electoral  vote,  however,  was  not  counted. 


336  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Judge  Campbell  says  the  State  was  recognized  when  admitted 
as  having  existed  since  November,  1835.'  As  one  closes  the 
history  of  the  admission  of  Michigan,  he  wonders  whether 
the  people  learned  to  accent  the  first  word  in  the  Territorial 
motto :  Tandem  fit  surculus  arbor. 

The  Upper  Peninsula  is  about  three  hundred  miles  in 
length,  and  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  in  breadth. 
It  contains  about  twenty-two  thousand  six  hundred  square 
miles  of  area.  It  has  considerable  agricultural  resources  ;  its 
copper  and  iron  mines  are  among  the  richest  in  the  world  ;  its 
fisheries  are  the  finest  on  the  Lakes;  it  contains  excellent  har- 
bors, and  it  commands  the  outlets  of  both  Lake  Michigan 
and  Lake  Superior ;  and  yet  Michigan  was  unwilling  to  ac- 
cept this  rich  peninsula  for  a  few  hundred  square  miles  of 
corn-lands  on  the  Ohio  border.  She  protested  again  and 
again  that  she  did  not  wish  to  extend  beyond  the  boundaries 
assigned  her  in  1805.  The  tip  of  the  Northern  Peninsula  she 
strove  for  when  Wisconsin  sought  to  wrest  it  from  her,  be- 
cause of  its  relations  to  the  two  straits,  and  because  of  the  an- 
cient commercial  connection  between  Detroit  and  the  upper 
posts ;  but  she  wished  nothing  more.  Mr.  Lyon,  the  Territorial 
delegate,  said,  in  1834,  "that  for  a  great  part  of  the  year  nat- 
ure had  separated  the  Upper  and  Lower  peninsulas  by  im- 
passable barriers,  and  that  there  never  could  be  any  identity  of 
interest  or  community  of  feeling  between  them."  However, 
when  we  remember  that  the  copper  mines  first  became  pro- 
ductive in  historic  times  in  1845,  although  they  had  been 
worked  by  the  Mound  Builders,  and  been  known  to  white 
men  since  the  days  of  Brul6  and  Joliet,  and  that  the  whole 
peninsula  a  half-century  ago  seemed  a  sterile  waste,  we  need 
not  be  surprised  at  Michigan's  preference  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Maumee. 

1  Political  History  of  Michigan,  478. 


ADMISSION   OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      337 

V.  WISCONSIN. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  left  to  the  discretion  of  Congress 
the  question  whether  the  Northwest  should  be  divided  into 
three,  four,  or  five  States.  No  man,  looking  at  the  map,  can 
doubt  that  the  five-State  plan  was  far  better  than  either  of 
the  others.  States  extending  from  the  Ohio  River  to  the 
national  boundary  would  have  been  of  over-size,  as  well  as 
ill-shapen ;  while  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are  both  too  large 
and  too  widely  separated  to  constitute  one  State.  These 
facts  were  perceived  as  early  as  1802  and  1805.  Furthermore, 
it  was  perceived  at  the  same  time  that  the  Upper  Peninsula 
belongs  geographically  to  Wisconsin.  Accordingly,  in  1805 
the  dividing  line  between  them  was  drawn  from  the  southern 
bend  of  Lake  Michigan  through  the  middle  of  that  lake  to  its 
extremity,  that  is,  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  where  historical 
causes  turned  it  due  north  on  the  Miami  meridian  to  the 
national  limit.  The  addition  of  Wisconsin  to  Michigan  for 
purposes  of  government,  in  1818,  subject  to  the  future  dispo- 
sition of  Congress,  confirmed  this  line.  Nor  was  any  other 
thought  entertained  until  a  territorial  compensation  to  Michi- 
gan for  the  lands  that  the  course  of  events  required  her  to 
surrender  to  Ohio  was  proposed.  The  plan  of  giving  her  the 
Upper  Peninsula  appears  to  have  been  first  suggested  by  Mr. 
Preston,  of  South  Carolina,  when  the  Ohio-Michigan  boun- 
dary was  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  Senate.  He 
thought  the  region  beyond  the  Lake  too  large  for  one  State, 
and  he  appears  to  have  thought  the  peninsula  an  island.  Mr. 
Preston  said  in  the  Senate :  "  Whatever  disadvantage  may 
arise  from  connecting  with  Michigan  a  portion  of  the  country 
west  or  north  of  the  Lake  is,  we  think,  not  to  be  weighed 
with  the  inconvenience  of  subjecting,  forever  after,  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  single  State  all  the  inhabitants  who  may  re- 
side in  the  region  west  and  north  of  the  Lake." ' 

1  In  preparing  this  account  of  the  controversy  touching  the  Wisconsin  boun- 
daries, the  author  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  two  articles  entitled  The 
22 


338  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Wisconsin,  more  unwilling  to  part  with  the  peninsula 
than  Michigan  was  to  receive  it,  made  a  valiant  effort  for  its 
retention.  The  connection  of  the  two  regions  under  the  law 
of  1818  proved  little  more  than  nominal,  and  the  people  be- 
yond the  Lake  made  repeated  efforts,  beginning  as  early  as 
1829,  to  secure  the  organization  of  an  independent  territory, 
called,  at  different  times,  "  Chippewau,"  "  Wiskonsan,"  and 
"  Huron,"  that  should  include  the  whole  peninsula  to  the 
very  tip.  The  act  of  April  20,  1836,  creating  the  Territory, 
bounded  it  on  the  northeast  by  the  line  of  the  Michigan  En- 
abling Act.  A  survey  of  that  line  made  in  1840  and  1841  dis- 
closed the  fact  that  Congress  had  assumed  a  state  of  things  that 
did  not  exist,  and  that  the  line  was  an  impossible  one.  Wis- 
consin took  advantage  of  this  discovery  to  bring  forward  her 
original  claim,  pleading  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  which  did  not 
touch  the  issue  (since  in  the  northern  tier  of  States  everything 
was  left  to  the  discretion  of  Congress),  and  the  acts  of  1805 
and  1818,  which  was  more  to  the  purpose;  but  she  expressed 
a  willingness  to  accept  a  "  compensation  "  in  the  shape  of  ex- 
tensive and  valuable  internal  improvements.  The  legislative 
committee  that  uttered  these  views  recommended  that  the 
Territory  insist  upon  her  "  ancient  boundaries,"  to  the  extent, 
if  necessary,  of  forming  a  "  State  out  of  the  Union"  "  the  sov- 
ereign, independent  State  of  Wisconsin"  and  then  of  appealing 
to  the  Supreme  Arbiter  of  Nations  to  adjust  all  difficulties  that 
might  arise.  A  most  belligerent  address  to  Congress,  adopted 
about  the  same  time,  declared  that  Wisconsin  would  never 
"  lose  sight  of  the  principle  that,  whatever  may  be  the  sacri- 
fice, the  integrity  of  her  boundaries  must  be  observed."  '  It 
is  needless,  perhaps,  to  say  that  this  is  the  familiar  voice  of 
South  Carolina  in  the  days  before  the  Civil  War.  But  this 
note  of  secession,  sounded  among  the  woods  and  lakes  of  the 


Boundaries  of  Wisconsin,  by  R.  G.  Thwaits,  in  Magazine  of  Western  History, 
September  and  October,  1887. 

1  Magazine  of  Western  History,  VI.,  504,  529. 


ADMISSION   OF  THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      339 

Northwest,  made  no  impression  on  the  course  of  events. 
Having  compelled  Michigan  to  accept  what  she  did  not  want, 
Congress  now  compelled  Wisconsin  to  surrender  what  she 
wished  to  retain.  The  Enabling  act  approved  August  6,  1846, 
followed  the  Menomonee-Montreal  line  with  some  slight  modi- 
fications.1 In  both  the  conventions  held  under  it,  attempts 
were  made  to  win  back  the  ancient  northeastern  boundary, 
but  without  success. 

The  act  of  1836,  creating  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  made 
the  line  42°  30'  the  southern  boundary.  Three  years  later, 
and  twenty-one  years  after  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois, the  Territorial  Legislature  adopted  resolutions  declaring 
that  Congress  had  violated  the  Ordinance  of  1787  in  fixing 
the  northern  boundary  of  Illinois,  and  requesting  the  people 
of  the  Territory,  and  also  those  living  between  the  line  of 
1787  and  parallel  42°  30',  to  vote  at  the  next  general  election 
upon  the  question  of  forming  a  State  government  that  should 
embrace  the  whole  of  ancient  Wisconsin.  Strange  to  say,  this 
proposition  was  received  with  more  favor  by  the  people  of 
Northern  Illinois  than  by  the  people  of  Wisconsin  proper. 
Public  meetings  held  in  various  Illinois  towns  adopted  reso- 
lutions in  favor  of  the  Wisconsin  claim ;  and  a  convention 
held  at  Rockford,  July  6,  1840,  declared  that  the  fourteen 
northern  counties  of  Illinois  belonged  to  Wisconsin,  and  rec- 
ommended the  people  to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  to 
be  held  at  Madison  in  November,  for  the  purpose  of  adopt- 
ing such  lawful  and  constitutional  measures  as  may  seem  to 
be  necessary  and  proper  for  the  early  adjustment  of  the  south- 
ern boundary."  Public  sentiment  ran  very  strong  in  many 
of  these  counties  in  favor  of  the  northern  claim.  But  the 
boundary  was  complicated  with  the  formation  of  a  State 
government,  which  the  people  at  the  north  thought  prema- 

1  Mr.  Thwaits  contends  that  the  seeds  of  future  controversies  lie  thick  along 
this  line. 

3  Magazine  of  Western  History,  VI.,  538,  539. 


340  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ture,  and  the  total  vote  cast  in  favor  of  the  proposition  of 
1839  was  small.  In  1842  the  Territorial  Governor  sent  an 
official  communication  to  the  Governor  of  Illinois,  informing 
him  that  the  Illinois  jurisdiction  over  the  frontier  counties 
was  "accidental  and  temporary."  The  Enabling  act  of  1846 
followed  the  Illinois  line  on  the  south,  as  it  followed  the 
Michigan  line  on  the  northeast,  and  again  Wisconsin  sub- 
mitted. In  the  first  constitutional  convention  a  vigorous  but 
unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  secure  a  clause  referring  all 
disputes  as  to  boundary  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  the  State  to  come  in  with  boundaries  undetermined. 
Here,  again,  politics  intervened ;  the  failure  of  this  plan  is  said 
to  have  been  due,  in  part,  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Northern  Il- 
linois politicians  entertained  by  those  of  Wisconsin.  Nor  is 
it  unlikely  that  political  ambition  had  something  to  do  with 
the  fondness  of  the  Illinois  counties  for  a  northern  State  con- 
nection. 

As  Wisconsin  was  the  last  of  the  five  Northwestern  States 
to  enter  the  Union,  it  was  not,  perhaps,  surprising  that  her 
geographical  and  historical  boundaries  should  be  invaded  on 
the  south  and  northeast ;  but  it  would  appear  surprising  that 
on  the  farther  or  northwestern  side,  she  should  have  suffered 
more  heavily  than  on  any  other  side.  The  explanation  con- 
sists of  facts  of  geography  and  of  history. 

After  the  rectification  of  the  northwestern  boundary  by 
the  treaty  of  1818,  the  meridian  of  the  north  westernmost 
point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  from  its  intersection  with 
the  Mississippi  to  parallel  49°,  was  considered  the  farther 
boundary  of  the  Northwest  Territory;  but  the  act  of  1838, 
creating  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  drew  a  line  due  north  from 
the  head-waters  or  sources  of  the  Mississippi  to  that  parallel, 
and  this  line  Wisconsin  henceforth  called  her  "  ancient  boun- 
dary "  in  that  quarter.  The  second  of  these  lines  falls  some- 
what farther  to  the  west  than  the  first  one.  Again,  the 
population  that  planted  the  early  settlements  on  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  reached  their  destination  by  ascend- 


ADMISSION   OF   THE   NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      341 

ing  the  river,  and  not  by  an  overland  journey  from  Lake 
Michigan  ;  moreover,  all  their  natural  connections,  industrial, 
commercial,  political,  and  social,  were  with  the  river  valley 
rather  than  with  the  lake  basin.  In  these  circumstances  orig- 
inated the  idea  of  a  "  sixth  State,"  to  consist  either  wholly  of 
territory  belonging  to  the  old  Northwest,  or  partly  of  such 
territory  and  partly  of  territory  acquired  of  France  in  1803. 

The  Enabling  Act  for  Wisconsin,  approved  August  6,  1846, 
departed  from  the  "  ancient  boundary,"  adopting  the  follow- 
ing in  its  stead  :  The  main  channel  of  the  St.  Louis  River  to 
the  first  rapids  in  the  same  (above  the  Indian  village,  accord- 
ing to  Nicollet's  map) ;  thence  due  south  to  the  main  branch 
of  the  River  St.  Croix;  thence  down  the  main  channel  of 
said  river  to  the  Mississippi.  In  the  debate  the  extension  of 
"  the  ancient  boundary "  beyond  the  limits  of  the  original 
territory,  the  great  size  of  Wisconsin  unless  limited,  and  the 
desirability  of  a  State  that  should  lie  on  both  sides  of  the 
great  river  and  encompass  its  farther  sources,  were  urged  in 
favor  of  this  line.  In  the  constitutional  convention  which  sat 
at  Madison,  October  5th,  this  boundary  received  far  more  at- 
tention than  any  other.  The  people  of  the  St.  Croix  Valley, 
who  were  left  in  Wisconsin,  wished  to  go  with  their  neighbors 
across  the  river.  At  the  end  of  a  long  contest,  by  a  vote  of 
49  ayes  to  38  nays,  the  convention  adopted  a  proviso  that 
would  have  thrown  the  basin  of  the  St.  Croix  into  the  State 
beyond.  The  principal  champion  of  this  measure  favored  a 
State  extending  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie 
and  Green  Bay,  to  be  called  "  Superior."  On  March  3,  1847, 
Congress  assented  to  this  proviso,  but  a  month  later  the  peo- 
ple, at  a  popular  election,  rejected  the  constitution  on  grounds 
wholly  distinct  from  boundaries. 

In  the  second  constitutional  convention,  convened  at 
Madison,  December  15,  1847,  this  ground  was  all  fought  over 
again  with  equal  pertinacity.  The  Lake  Michigan  side  of  the 
State  now  proved  to  be  stronger  than  the  Mississippi  side ; 
and  the  convention  adopted  a  proviso  that  the  boundary 


342  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

should  be  drawn  from  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Louis  southward 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Rum  River,  which  is  some  twenty  miles 
above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  thus  giving  a  large  tract  that 
now  belongs  to  Minnesota,  including  St.  Paul  and  the  eastern 
side  of  Minneapolis,  to  Wisconsin.  This  proviso  brought  out 
the  full  strength  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  settlements  in  oppo- 
sition. The  people  of  the  St.  Croix  Valley  and  about  Fort 
Snelling  sent  a  strong  memorial  to  Washington,  urging,  among 
other  things,  that  "  the  Chippeway  and  St.  Croix  valleys 
are  closely  connected  in  geographical  position  with  the  up- 
per Mississippi,  while  they  are  widely  separated  from  the 
settled  posts  of  Wisconsin,  not  only  by  hundreds  of  miles  of 
mostly  waste  and  barren  lands,  which  must  remain  unculti- 
vated for  ages,  but  equally  so  by  a  diversity  of  interests  and 
character  in  the  population."  l  This  memorial  suggested  a 
line  drawn  due  south  from  Cheqaumegon  Bay,  on  Lake  Su- 
perior, to  the  main  Chippeway  River,  and  thence  down  that 
stream  to  the  Mississippi.  This  memorial,  seconded  by  a 
vigorous  lobby,  defeated  the  Rum  River  proviso,  but  did  not 
secure  the  Chippeway  line.  Wisconsin  came  into  the  Union 
with  the  limits  of  the  Enabling  act.  No  man  who  studies  the 
geography  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  its  material  and  polit- 
ical interests,  will  question  the  practical  wisdom  of  the  limita- 
tion on  the  western  side,  whatever  he  may  think  of  its  legal- 
ity. He  will  also  be  apt  to  think,  with  the  memorialists  of 
1848,  that  the  Chippeway  would  have  been  a  better  boundary 
than  the  St.  Croix. 

In  all,  Wisconsin  lost  about  fifty-seven  thousand  square 
miles  of  territority  originally  intended  for  her,2  but  she  remains 
the  third  of  the  Northwestern  States  in  size,  falling  only 
1,490  square  miles  behind  Illinois,  and  2,527  square  miles  be- 
hind Michigan. 

After  a  very  animated  contest,  the  first  Wisconsin  Consti- 


1  Magazine  of  Western  History. 

*  Viz.,  8,500  to  Illinois,  22,600  to  Michigan,  and 26,000  to  Minnesota. 


ADMISSION   OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN   STATES.      343 

tution  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  6,112  votes  in  a  total  of 
34,450.  The  people  of  the  Territory,  in  common  with  the  peo- 
ple of  the  West  generally,  had  suffered  many  evils  from  reck- 
less and  irresponsible  banking.  These  evils,  together  with  the 
extreme  Democratic  opinions  relating  to  banks  and  paper 
money,  led  the  convention  to  deny  all  legal  authority  to 
banks.  The  constitution  declared  it  not  lawful  for  any  corpo- 
ration, institution,  person  or  persons  within  the  State,  to  make 
or  issue  paper  money,  or  any  evidence  of  debt  intended  to 
circulate  as  money ;  forbade  any  corporation  to  carry  on  any 
of  the  other  functions  of  banking  institutions ;  prohibited  the 
establishment  of  any  branch  or  agency  of  a  banking  institu- 
tion existing  without  the  State  ;  and  made  it  illegal  to  circu- 
late, after  1849,  bank-notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  $20. 
Deposit,  discount,  and  exchange  banking  were  left  wholly  to 
private  enterprise.  The  convention  had  presumed  too  far 
upon  the  popular  hostility  to  banks.  The  Whigs  opposed  the 
constitution  to  a  man,  and  many  of  the  Democrats  as  well. 
Serious  objections  were  also  made  to  other  features  that  will 
not  be  particularized.  The  second  convention  followed,  for 
the  most  part,  the  paths  marked  out  by  its  predecessor.  But 
it  empowered  the  legislature  to  submit  to  the  voters,  at  any 
general  election,  the  question  of  "  bank  or  no  bank  ; "  also  to 
grant  bank  charters,  or  to  pass  a  general  banking  law,  pro- 
vided a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  on  this  subject  should 
be  in  favor  of  banks.  This  constitution  was  ratified  by  a 
majority  of  over  10,000  in  a  vote  of  23,000.  Wisconsin  was 
admitted  to  the  Union  May  29,  1848.  The  State  received 
its  emigration  by  the  great  northern  current,  and  accordingly 
had  to  wait  until  Michigan  was  partially  peopled,  as  Michigan 
had  been  obliged  to  wait  for  Western  New  York  and  Northern 
Ohio.  The  population  was  only  30,945  in  1840,  but  it  made 
the  astonishing  advance  to  305,391  in  the  ten  years  following. 

Minnesota,  the  half-sister  of  the  five  Northwestern  States, 
was  admitted  to  the  Union  May  n,  1858. 

The  five  noble  commonwealths  formed  out  of  the  Terri- 


344  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

tory  Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio,  with  their  twelve  or  thir- 
teen millions  of  population ;  their  material,  intellectual,  and 
moral  resources ;  their  vast  wealth  of  achievements  and  still 
vaster  wealth  of  possibilities,  are  the  grandest  testimonial  to 
the  Ordinance  of  1787,  to  the  men  who  framed  it,  and  to  the 
pioneers  who  laid  their  foundations. 


XVIII. 
SLAVERY  IN  THE  NORTHWEST. 

THE  surprise  that  historians  still  continue  to  express  at 
the  ease  and  celerity  with  which  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was 
enacted  culminates  when  they  come  to  the  sixth  article  of 
compact.  A  few  words  touching  that  article  will  serve  as  a 
fitting  introduction  to  an  account  of  slavery  in  the  Territory 
Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  slavery  existed  in 
nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  but  was  far  stronger  in  the 
South  than  in  the  North.  In  the  one  section  the  causes  were 
already  at  work  that  ere  long  brought  about  its  abolishment ; 
in  the  other,  the  causes  had  not  yet  begun  to  operate  that,  in 
the  end,  practically  united  all  the  people  in  defence  of  slavery. 
In  the  sense  of  later  controversies,  the  one  section  was  not 
anti-slavery  nor  the  other  pro-slavery.  The  Northern  States 
tended  toward  anti-slavery  views,  but  not  in  the  aggressive 
spirit  of  later  times ;  the  Southern  States,  toward  pro-slavery 
views,  but  not  with  such  unanimity  as  to  preclude  a  great 
amount  of  strong  and  even  fervid  anti-slavery  sentiment,  and 
particularly  in  Virginia.  The  average  opinion  South  and 
North  was  that  slavery  could  not  be  violently  uprooted  ;  that 
it  must  be  tolerated  and  protected  for  the  time ;  but  that  it 
was  an  evil  the  peaceful  death  of  which  every  real  well-wisher 
of  his  country  would  be  glad  to  hasten.  This  was  the  opinion 
that  declared  itself  in  the  slavery  compromises  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  in  the  sixth  article  of  compact  of  the  Ordinance 
of  the  same  year,  which  is  also  a  compromise,  as  anyone  must 
see  the  moment  he  looks  at  the  two  clauses  of  the  article  bal- 


346"  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

anced  on  the  word  "  provided."  The  long  and  fierce  contest 
over  the  extension  of  slavery,  which  did  not  begin  until  many 
years  afterward,  gave  to  that  prohibition  an  importance  which 
no  one  dreamed  of  according  to  it  at  the  time  of  its  enact- 
ment. The  fact  is,  the  article  was  not  of  the  substance  of  the 
Ordinance.  It  was  not  even  a  part  of  the  original  draft,  but 
was  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Dane  on  the  second  reading. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
changed  his  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  interval,  but 
he  voted  against  the  prohibition  of  1 784,  and  for  the  prohibition 
of  1787.  The  Ohio  Associates  desired  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  the  region  where  they  proposed  to  purchase  lands,  and 
probably  would  have  declined  to  purchase  them  without  it ; ' 

1  This  was  a  point  that  the  New  England  men  always  insisted  upon.  The 
"  Proposition  for  settling  a  new  State  by  such  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Federal 
Army  as  should  associate  for  that  purpose,"  drawn  up  by  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering,  early  in  1783,  which  was  an  important  link  in  the  history  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  when  told  at  length,  contained  this  language  :  "  The  total  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  the  State  to  form  an  essential  and  irrevocable  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion." The  editors  of  the  "Life  of  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler"  present  convincing 
evidence  that  Dr.  Cutler  was  the  author  of  the  sections  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
relating  to  religion,  education,  and  slavery  (I.,  342-344).  Judge  Ephraim  Cutler, 
mentioned  in  the  text,  says  his  father  asked  him,  in  1804-1805,  whether  he  had 
prepared  the  prohibition  of  slavery  inserted  in  the  Ohio  Constitution.  On  re- 
ceiving an  affirmative  answer,  the  doctor  said  it  was  a  singular  coincidence,  as  he 
had  himself  prepared  Article  VI.  of  the  Ordinance,  while  he  was  in  New  York 
negotiating  the  Ohio  purchase.  The  doctor  further  said  he  acted  in  that  matter 
for  associates,  friends,  and  neighbors  who  would  not  embark  in  the  enterprise 
unless  the  principles  in  relation  to  religion,  education,  and  slavery  were  unalter- 
ably fixed.  Dr.  Cutler's  editors  also  bring  out  with  much  force,  as  partially  ex- 
plaining the  singular  interest  that  the  Virginia  members  of  Congress  took  in  the 
Ohio  purchase  and  the  Ordinance,  that  settlements  on  the  further  banks  of  the 
Ohio  would  be  a  screen  for  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  settlements  on  the  south 
bank  against  the  Indians.  They  say  further:  "Virginia,  under  the  leadership 
of  Washington,  had  entered  upon  a  wise  and  comprehensive  policy  of  internal 
improvement,  designed  to  secure  the  trade  of  the  Ohio  Valley  and  the  Northwest 
to  Virginia  seaports.  Additional  value  would  also  be  imparted  to  her  bounty- 
lands  lying  between  the  Scioto  and  Little  Miami.  Add  to  these  the  personal 
sympathy  of  Washington  for  the  success  of  his  old  associates,  as  well  as  his  own 
landed  interests  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  we  find  plain  business  considerations 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  347 

but  their  attitude  toward  its  extension  was  very  different 
from  that  of  David  Wilmot  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Accord- 
ingly, the  sixth  compact  was  regarded  neither  as  an  anti- 
slavery  victory  nor  as  a  pro-slavery  defeat ;  it  was  simply  a 
feature,  though  an  important  one,  of  the  frame  of  govern- 
ment provided  for  the  Northwest.  The  tremendous  conse- 
quences flowing  from  it  no  man  then  living  was  wise  enough 
to  foretell.  Still  the  article  was  of  great  immediate  advantage 
to  freedom  ;  for  when  the  real  battle  with  slavery  in  the  North- 
west was  joined,  it  proved  a  rock  of  defence  that  was  never 
successfully  assaulted. 

Negro  slaves  were  introduced  into  the  Mississippi  Valley 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Throughout  the  French 
period  pecuniary  ability  and  personal  desire  were  the  only 
limitations  on  the  number  of  such  slaves  that  a  colonist  might 
own.  Accordingly,  as  the  habitants  of  the  Northwest  in- 
creased in  substance  and  were  brought  into  closer  commercial 
relations  with  Louisiana  and  the  West  Indies,  they  imported 
them  in  considerable  numbers.  The  number  continued  to 
grow,  both  by  natural  increase  and  by  later  importations. 
Judge  Breese  quotes  a  Jesuit  missionary  who  found  1,100 
whites,  300  blacks,  and  60  "  red  slaves  of  the  savages "  in 
five  Illinois  villages  in  1750.'  But  this  slavery  was  of  the  old 
patriarchal  rather  than  the  modern  commercial  type.  Breese 
gives  a  pleasing  picture  of  the  male  slaves  working  side  by 
side  in  the  fields  with  their  masters,  and  of  the  females  going 
with  their  mistresses  "  in  neat  attire  "  to  matins  and  vespers  ; 
both  "  unmindful  of  the  fetters  with  which  a  wicked  policy 
had  bound  them."  *  Monette  gives  an  equally  pleasing  pict- 
ure of  the  festive  enjoyments  of  the  'habitants,  in  which  the 
slaves  freely  mingled.3  An  ordinance  of  Louis  XV.,  issued  in 

that  controlled  at  that  time  this  most  important  decision.  And  all  evidence 
points  to  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler  as  the  agent  who  carefully,  skilfully,  and  suc- 
cessfully conducted  these  negotiations  and  brought  about  their  results"  (L,  352). 

1  Early  History  of  Illinois,  194.  8  Ibid.,  199,  200. 

s  History  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  L,  186,  187. 


348  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

1724,  enjoined  that  all  slaves  in  the  French  colonies  should 
"  be  educated  in  the  Apostolic  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and 
be  baptized,"  enjoining  their  owners  to  have  these  matters  at- 
tended to  within  a  reasonable  time,  under  pain  of  an  arbitrary 
fine. '  Negro  slaves  were  relatively  numerous  in  the  North- 
west in  1763.  Governor  Reynolds,  who  says  the  first  impor- 
tation was  one  of  five  hundred  made  from  San  Domingo  in 
1726,  by  Philip  Renault,  to  work  the  mines,  reports  that 
there  were  168  slaves  in  Illinois  in  1810,  917  in  1820,  and  746 
in  1830.*  Negro  slaves  are  also  heard  of  at  Green  Bay  in 
Wisconsin.' 

The  Western  Indians  were  slave-holders.  They  followed 
the  ancient  and  honorable  custom  of  selling  captives  taken  in 
war  into  slavery,  often  as  the  alternative  of  putting  them  to 
death  ;  and  among  their  best  customers,  from  the  early  days 
of  French  colonization,  were  the  white  men,  who  often 
bought,  it  must  be  added,  as  acts  of  humanity.  So  many  of 
these  red  slaves  belonged  to  a  single  tribe  that  Pawnee,  or 
"  Pani "  as  the  French  wrote  it,  came  to  be  the  common  word 
for  slave  irrespective  of  race,  thus  repeating  the  history  of  the 
word  "  Slav  "  itself. 

The  transfer  of  the  Northwest  to  England  in  no  way  dis- 
turbed the  relation  of  master  and  slave ;  for  the  capitulation 
of  1760  and  the  treaty  of  1763  guaranteed  the  full  protection 
of  all  the  property  of  the  people  who  were  transferred. 
Moreover,  such  Englishmen  as  made  their  way  into  the  coun- 
try enjoyed  the  same  privileges  as  the  old  residents,  and 
some  of  them  promptly  improved  this  opportunity.  As  a 
consequence,  the  Northwest  came  to  the  United  States  with 
a  slave  dowery  ;  and  although  the  treaty  of  1783  did  not 
repeat  the  guarantee  of  the  treaty  of  1763,  no  one  thought 
that  the  dowery  would  in  any  way  be  interfered  with,  for  slav- 
ery was  then,  practically,  co-extensive  with  the  Union.  The 


1  Dillon  :  History  of  Indiana,  32.  *  My  Own  Times,  28,  132. 

*  Strong  :  History  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  67. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  349 

Northwest  was  slave  territory  all  through  the  Virginia  period, 
reaching  from  1778  to  1784;  and  when  that  State  made  her 
cession  she  stipulated,  in  terms :  "  That  the  French  and  Ca- 
nadian inhabitants  and  other  settlers  .  .  .  who  have 
professed  themselves  citizens  of  Virginia,  shall  have  their 
possessions  and  titles  confirmed  to  them,  and  be  protected 
in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights  and  liberties ; "  and  this 
stipulation,  no  doubt,  included  slaves.  Furthermore,  the 
United  States  Government  recognized  the  existence  of  slav- 
ery in  the  Territory.  The  Ordinance  of  1784  mentions 
"  free  males  of  full  age  "  and  free  inhabitants ;  and,  by  al- 
lowing the  people  "  to  adopt  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
any  one  of  the  original  States,"  gave  full  scope  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  slavery.  It  has  even  been  contended  that  the 
expression,  "  free  male  inhabitants,"  found  in  the  great  Or- 
dinance, assumes  tacitly  that  such  slavery  as  then  existed 
in  the  Territory  should  not  be  disturbed.  And,  finally,  Jay's 
Treaty,  negotiated  in  1794,  in  the  article  providing  for  the 
evacuation  of  the  Western  posts  on  June  I,  1796,  guaranteed 
to  all  settlers  and  traders  within  the  precincts  or  jurisdiction 
of  the  said  posts  all  their  property  of  every  kind  and  pro- 
tection therein,  which  applied  to  slaves  as  well  as  to  other 
property. 

In  his  very  entertaining  account  of  life  at  Detroit  in  the 
years  following  the  extension  of  the  American  authority 
over  that  town,  Judge  Burnet,  after  bearing  testimony  to  the 
"  excellence  of  their  hirelings  and  domestics,"  adds  :  "  But 
their  best  servants  were  the  Pawnee  Indians,  and  their  de- 
scendants, who  were  held  and  disposed  of  as  slaves,  under  the 
French  and  English  governments — a  species  of  slavery  which 
existed  to  a  considerable  extent  in  Upper  Canada.  .  .  . 
That  relation  existed  when  the  country  was  delivered  up  to 
the  United  States  ;  though  the  practice  of  purchasing  Indian 
captives  as  slaves,  by  the  white  people,  had  ceased  before  the 
surrender ;  and  consequently,  the  principal  part,  if  not  all, 
the  Indians  then  in  slavery  were  the  descendants  of  enslaved 


350  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

captives."1  Judge  Cooley  divides  the  slaves  in  the  Northwest, 
in  1796,  "as  regards  the  legal  questions  affecting  their  lib- 
erty," into  three  classes:  (i)  "Those  who  were  in  servitude 
to  French  owners  previous  to  the  cession  of  jurisdiction  to 
England,  and  who  were  still  claimed  as  property  in  which  the 
owners  were  protected  under  the  treaty  of  cession,"  1763.  (2) 
"  Those  who  were  held  by  British  owners  at  the  time  of  Jay's 
treaty  and  claimed  afterward  as  property  under  its  protec- 
tion." (3)  "  Those  who  since  the  Territory  had  come  under 
American  customs  had  been  brought  into  it  from  the  States 
in  which  slavery  was  lawful." a 

When  the  habitants  of  Vincennes  and  the  Illinois,  alarmed 
by  the  sixth  article  of  compact,  called  upon  Governor  St. 
Clair  to  explain  its  meaning,  he  promptly  replied  that  it  was 
not  retroactive  but  prospective ;  "  a  declaration  of  a  principle 
which  was  to  govern  the  legislature  in  all  acts  respecting 
that  matter,  and  the  courts  of  justice  in  their  decisions  in 
cases  arising  after  the  date  of  the  Ordinance."  He  argued  that 
had  Congress  intended  to  emancipate  the  slaves  in  the  Terri- 
tory, compensation  would  have  been  made  to  their  owners. 
Congress  had  "  the  right  to  determine  that  property  of  that 
kind  afterwards  acquired  should  not  be  protected  in  future, 
and  that  slaves  imported  into  the  Territory  after  that  declara- 
tion might  reclaim  their  freedom." 8  This  was  the  theory  on 
which  the  various  Territorial  governments  of  the  Northwest 
appear  to  have  been  administered.  For  example,  the  revenue 
laws  of  the  Territory  of  Illinois  levied  a  tax  upon  slaves ;  and 
Congress,  that  had  the  power  of  revising  all  such  laws,  in  this 
case  never  exercised  its  power.  However,  in  one  instance  a 
court  of  law  materially  limited  this  ground.  The  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  in  a  case  that  arose  at 
Detroit  in  1807,  held  that  the  sixth  article  was  absolute,  save 
as  modified  by  Jay's  Treaty.  These  are  his  words :  "  A  right 


1  Notes,  283.  *  Michigan,  131,  132. 

8  St  Clair  Papers,  I.,  205,  206. 


SLAVERY  IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  351 

of  property  in  the  human  species  cannot  exist  in  this  Territory 
except  as  to  persons  in  the  actual  possession  of  British  settlers 
in  the  Territory  on  June  I,  1796,  and  that  every  other  man 
coming  into  this  Territory  is  by  the  law  of  the  land  a  freeman, 
unless  he  be  a  fugitive  from  lawful  labor  and  service  in  some 
other  American  State  or  territory."1  Chief  Justice  Wood- 
bridge  accordingly  refused  to  return  to  their  owners  fugitive 
slaves  from  Canada  escaping  into  Michigan,  thereby  causing 
no  little  bad  blood.  In  1807,  it  may  be  remarked,  the  guar- 
antee given  the  French  slave-owners  by  England  was  more 
than  forty  years  old,  and  had  no  other  than  an  historical  in- 
terest. 

Under  the  operation  of  the  Ordinance  such  slavery  as 
existed  in  1787  slowly  but  surely  died  out.  However,  black 
slaves  were  still  found  in  Illinois  as  late  as  1846  or  1847  ;  and 
men  of  middle  age  now  living  have  seen  in  Detroit  an  ancient 
"  Pani "  who  had  been  a  slave  in  his  earlier  life.2 

The  active  and  dangerous  championship  of  slavery  in  the 
Northwest  did  not  come  from  the  French  inhabitants.  The 
New  England  and  Middle  State  emigrants  were  geja&t&tty  op- 
posed to  slavery  ;  but  the  larger  number  of  the  emigrants  from 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Kentucky,  accustomed  to  slaves, 
and  finding  in  the  Ohio  Valley  physical  conditions  very  sim- 
ilar to  those  they  left  behind  them,  not  unnaturally  desired 
its  introduction.  Accordingly,  they  united  with  the  slave- 
holders already  on  the  ground  in  a  series  of  attempts  per- 
manently to  break  down  or  temporarily  to  set  aside  the  inhi- 
bition. A  petition  asking  the  suspension  of  Article  VI.  was 
met  by  an  adverse  report  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
May,  1796. 

In  1799,  officers  of  the  Virginia  line,  desiring  to  remove  with 
their  slaves  to  the  Virginia  Military  District,  between  the 

1  Cooley  :  Michigan,  137. 

*  Edwards  :  History  of  Illinois,  180,  184 ;  and  Campbell :  Political  History 
of  Michigan,  246,  247. 


352  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

Scioto  and  Miami  Rivers,  petitioned  the  Territorial  Legislature 
for  permission  to  do  so ;  but  the  peremptory  language  of  the 
Ordinance  gave  that  body  no  such  discretion  and  the  peti- 
tion was  refused.  The  granting  of  the  petition  would  have 
brought  into  the  Territory,  says  Burnet,  "  a  great  accession  of 
wealth,  strength,  and  intelligence  ;  yet  the  public  feeling,  on 
the  subject  of  admitting  slavery  into  the  Territory,  was  such, 
that  the  request  would  have  been  denied  by  a  unanimous  vote 
if  the  legislature  had  possessed  the  power  of  granting  it. 
They  were  not  only  opposed  to  slavery  on  the  ground  of  its 
being  a  moral  evil,  in  violation  of  personal  right,  but  were  of 
opinion  that,  whatever  might  be  its  immediate  advantages 
it  would  ultimately  retard  the  settlement  and  check  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Territory,  by  making  labor  less  reputable  and 
creating  feelings  and  habits  unfriendly  to  the  simplicity  and 
industry  they  desired  to  encourage  and  perpetuate."  '  But  it 
is  impossible  to  harmonize  such  a  unanimous  and  decided 
anti-slavery  sentiment  as  this  with  the  admitted  facts  of  history. 
In  December,  1802,  a  delegate  convention  held  at  Vin- 
cennes,  the  capital  of  the  new  Territory  of  Indiana,  called  and 
presided  over  by  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison,  again 
memorialized  Congress  to  set  aside  the  sixth  compact ;  and  in 
the  following  March,  John  Randolph,  as  chairman  of  a  special 
committee  to  which  the  memorial  and  a  letter  of  the  same 
tenor  from  Governor  Harrison  had  been  referred,  reported  it 
inexpedient  to  grant  the  prayer.  The  argument  of  the  re- 
port is  in  these  words : 

"The  rapid  population  of  the  State  of  Ohio  sufficiently 
evinces,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that  the  labor  of 
slaves  is  not  necessary  to  promote  the  growth  and  settlement  of 
colonies  in  that  region  ;  that  this  labor,  demonstrably  the  dear- 
est of  any,  can  only  be  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  products 
more  valuable  than  any  known  to  that  quarter  of  the  United 
States  ;  that  the  committee  deem  it  highly  dangerous  and  in- 

1  Notes,  306,  307. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  353 

expedient  to  impair  a  provision  wisely  calculated  to  promote 
the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  Northwestern  country, 
and  to  give  strength  and  security  to  that  extensive  frontier. 
In  the  salutary  operation  of  this  sagacious  and  benevolent  re- 
straint, it  is  believed  that  the  inhabitants  of  Indiana  will,  at  no 
very. distant  day,  find  ample  remuneration  for  a  temporary 
privation  of  labor  and  of  emigration." 

However,  the  people  of  Indiana,  refusing  to  accept  Mr. 
Randolph's  view  of  the  case,  continued  to  call  upon  Congress 
for  the  suspension  of  the  obnoxious  article.  In  every  one  of 
the  years  1804,  1806,  1807,  committees  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives reported  favorably  to  their  wishes,  but  the  House, 
for  some  reason  now  unknown,  never  acted  on  the  reports. 
Governor  Harrison  and  the  Indiana  Legislature  now  took 
their  cause  to  the  Senate,  where  they  encountered  an  adverse 
report  from  a  special  committee  that  ended  attempts  to  induce 
the  new  Congress  to  undo  what  the  old  one,  with  such  so- 
lemnity, had  done.1  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
people  of  Indiana  were  unanimous  in  desiring  the  introduction 
of  slavery.  The  citizens  of  Clark  County,  for  example,  sent 
a  vigorous  counter-memorial  to  Congress  in  November,  1807. 
These  citizens  say :  "  When  we  take  into  consideration  the 
vast  emigration  into  this  Territory — and  of  citizens,  too,  de- 
cidedly opposed  to  the  measure — we  feel  satisfied  that,  at  all 
events,  Congress  will  suspend  any  legislative  act  on  this  sub- 
ject until  we  shall,  by  the  Constitution,  be  admitted  into  the 
Union,  and  have  a  right  to  adopt  such  a  constitution,  in  this 
respect,  as  may  comport  with  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the 
citizens." " 

In  1807  the  Indiana  Legislature  passed  an  act  authorizing 
the  owners  of  negroes  and  mulattoes  more  than  fifteen  years 
of  age  to  bring  them  into  the  Territory,  and  to  have  them 
bound  to  service  by  indenture  for  such  time  as  the  master  and 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  I.,  120-122. 

2  Dillon  :  History  of  Indiana,  410-414. 

23 


354  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

slave  might  agree  upon.  If  within  thirty  days  of  the  time  he* 
was  brought  into  the  Territory  the  slave  would  not  consent  to 
be  indentured,  then  his  owner  should  have  sixty  days  in  which 
to  remove  him  into  any  State  where  slavery  existed.  The 
law  also  permitted  any  person  to  bring  slaves  under  fifteen 
years  of  age  into  the  Territory,  and  to  hold  them  to  service — 
the  males  until  the  age  of  thirty-five,  the  females  until  the 
age  of  thirty-two  years.  Male  children,  born  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  a  parent  of  color  owing  service  by  indenture,  should 
serve  the  master  until  the  age  of  thirty  years,  female  chil- 
dren until  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years.  This  act  continued 
in  force  until  1810.  On  the  Territorial  Statute  Book  are 
also  found  very  repressive  acts  concerning  servants.  This  act 
was  continued  in  force  by  the  Illinois  Legislature  after  the 
division  of  the  Territory.  In  1814  the  same  legislature  passed 
a  law  providing  that  slaves  might,  with  consent  of  their 
owners,  hire  themselves  in  the  Territory  for  a  term  not  ex- 
ceeding one  year ;  and  that  such  act  should  not  in  any  way 
affect  the  master's  right  of  property  in  them  in  the  State  or 
territory  where  they  belonged.  The  preamble  of  this  act  as- 
signs as  reasons  for  its  provisions  that  mills  cannot  be  erected 
or  other  needed  improvements  made,  for  want  of  laborers ; 
and,  particularly,  that  the  manufacture  of  salt,  the  supply  of 
which  should  be  abundant  and  the  price  low,  cannot  be  car- 
ried on  by  means  of  white  men.  Still  further,  an  act  passed 
in  1812  forbade  the  emigration  of  free  negroes  to  the  Terri- 
tory of  Illinois  under  severe  penalties ;  and  enjoined  free  ne- 
groes already  there  to  register  themselves  and  their  children 
in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  County  Court,  also  under 
severe  penalties. 

When  one  remembers  that  the  Northwest  was  covered  on 
two  sides  by  slave  territory,  from  which  it  was  separated  only 
by  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  he  appreciates  the  facil- 
ities that  such  enactments  as  the  foregoing  gave  for  evading 
the  intent  of  the  sixth  compact  of  the  Ordinance.  Comment 
is  not  needed  to  show  that  the  ingenuity  here  displayed  could 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  355 

have  invented  a  system  of  enforced  labor  not  at  all  inferior  to 
that  devised  by  some  of  the  Southern  States  under  President 
Johnson's  reconstruction  scheme.  Moreover,  these  enact- 
ments explain  certain  provisions  respecting  indentures  in  the 
first  Constitutions  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  that  would 
otherwise  be  inexplicable. 

The  constitutional  conventions  of  the  three  divisions  of 
the  Territory  lying  on  the  Ohio  River  offered  opportunities 
for  attacking  the  integrity  of  the  Ordinance  that  in  two  in- 
stances were  improved. 

Judge  Burnet's  "  Notes  "  and  Mr.  William  Henry  Smith's 
"  Life  of  St.  Clair "  do  not  convey  the  impression  that  an 
issue  was  really  drawn  in  the  Ohio  Convention  of  1802.  But 
Judge  Ephraim  Cutler's  journal  conveys  that  impression  very 
distinctly.  Those  favorable  to  slavery  took  the  ground  that, 
however  it  might  be  with  the  Territory,  the  Ordinance  could 
not  bind  a  State  unless  the  State  herself,  as  a  party  to  a  com- 
pact, assented  to  it ;  and  they  accordingly  advocated  a  "  mod- 
ified form  "  of  servitude.  Judge  Cutler  was  a  son  of  Dr. 
Manasseh  Cutler,  was  one  of  the  Washington  County  dele- 
gates to  frame  the  constitution,  and  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee charged  with  framing  the  bill  of  rights,  of  which  John 
W.  Brown  was  chairman.  Cutler's  journal  gives  this  account 
of  proceedings  in  the  committee  : 

"  An  exciting  subject  was  of  course  immediately  brought  be- 
fore the  committee,  the  subject  of  admitting  or  excluding  slavery. 
Mr.  Brown  produced  a  section  which  defined  the  subject,  in  ef- 
fect, thus  :  No  person  shall  be  held  in  slavery  if  a  male,  after  he 
is  thirty-five  years  of  age  ;  and  if  a  female,  after  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  I  observed  to  the  committee  that  those  who  had 
elected  me  to  represent  them  there  were  desirous  of  having 
this  matter  clearly  understood,  and  I  must  move  to  have  the 
section  laid  upon  the  table  until  our  next  meeting,  and  to  avoid 
any  warmth  of  feeling,  I  hoped  that  each  member  of  the  com- 
mittee would  prepare  a  section  which  should  express  his  views 
fully  on  this  important  subject.  The  committee  met  the  next 


THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

morning,  and  I  was  called  on  for  what  I  had  proposed  the  last 
evening.  I  then  read  to  them  the  section  as  it  now  stands  in 
the  constitution.  Mr.  Brown  observed  that  what  he  had  intro- 
duced was  thought  by  the  greatest  men  in  the  nation  to  be,  if 
established  in  our  constitution,  obtaining  a  great  step  toward 
a  general  emancipation  of  slavery,  and  was,  in  his  opinion, 
greatly  to  be  preferred  to  what  I  had  offered." 

The  section  that  Cutler  prepared  prohibited  slavery  in  the 
very  words  of  the  Ordinance  ;  it  forbade  the  holding,  as  a  ser- 
vant, under  pretence  of  indenture  or  otherwise,  any  male  per- 
son twenty-one  years  of  age,  or  female  person  eighteen  years 
of  age,  unless  such  person  had  entered  into  the  indenture 
while  in  a  state  of  perfect  freedom,  and  on  condition  of  a  bona 
fide  consideration,  received  or  to  be  received,  for  the  service ; 
closing  with  the  clause  :  "  Nor  shall  any  indenture  of  any 
negro  or  mulatto,  hereafter  made  and  executed  out  of  this 
State,  or,  if  made  in  the  State,  where  the  term  of  service  ex- 
ceeds one  year,  be  of  the  least  validity,  except  those  given  in 
the  case  of  apprenticeships." 

After  a  sharp  discussion  in  the  committee,  the  section  was 
adopted  by  a  majority  of  one,  five  votes  to  four.  It  now 
went  to  the  convention,  where  "  several  attempts  were  made 
to  weaken  or  obscure  the  sense  of  the  section  on  its  passage." 
In  committee  of  the  whole,  a  material  change  was  introduced. 
Cutler  was  unwell,  and  so  absent  at  the  time.  "  I  went  to 
the  convention,"  he  continues,  "  and  moved  to  strike  out  the 
obnoxious  matter  and  made  my  objections  as  forcible  as  I  was 
able,  and  when  the  vote  was  called  Mr.  Milligan  changed  his 
vote  and  we  succeeded  in  placing  it  in  its  original  state." 
Thus  by  a  majority  of  only  one,  first  in  the  committee  and 
afterward  in  the  convention  itself,  was  the  attempt  to  fasten 
a  modified  slavery  upon  the  State  of  Ohio  defeated. 

Judge  Cutler  understood  President  Jefferson  to  be  the  au- 
thor of  the  proposition  which  he  so  effectually  opposed,  and 
the  "  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  nation  "  referred  to  by 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  357 

Mr.  Brown.  He  gives  as  evidence  for  this  opinion  a  conver- 
sation with  Governor  Worthington  in  Washington  at  the 
time  Congress  passed  the  law  authorizing  the  convention,  in 
which  Worthington  told  him  that  Mr.  Jefferson  "  had  ex- 
pressed to  him  that  such,  or  a  similar  article,  might  be  intro- 
duced into  the  constitution,  and  he  hoped  there  would  not  be 
any  effort  made  for  anything  farther  for  the  exclusion  of  sla- 
very, as  it  would  operate  against  the  interests  of  those  who 
wished  to  emigrate  from  the  slave  States  to  Ohio." ' 

Judge  Burnet  says  "  much  warmth  of  feeling  "  was  mani- 
fested in  the  convention  on  the  different  propositions  which 
were  offered  relating  to  the  people  of  color  then  residing  in 
the  Territory,  amounting  probably  to  one  or  two  hundred. 
These  propositions,  found  in  the  "Journal  of  the  Convention," 
were  finally  abandoned,  in  the  fear  that  the  feeling  excited  by 
them  might  defeat  the  object  for  which  the  convention  was 
called.  The  judge  says:  "A  few  of  the  members  were  dis- 
posed to  declare  them  citizens,  to  the  full  extent  of  that 
term ;  while  others  contended  against  allowing  them  any 
other  privilege  than  the  protection  of  the  laws,  and  exemp- 
tion from  taxes  and  militia  duty.  Propositions  were  made 
to  declare  them  ineligible  to  any  office,  civil  or  military ;  also 

1  The  facts  stated  above  in  regard  to  the  Ohio  Convention  are  drawn  from  A 
Funeral  Discourse  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Hon.  Ephraim  Cutler,  de- 
livered at  Warren,  Washington  County,  O.,  July  24,  1853,  by  Professor  E.  B. 
Andrews  of  Marietta  College,  Marietta,  O.,  1854.  In  this  discourse  Professor 
Andrews  also  calls  Governor  Morrow  as  a  witness  that  Mr.  Jefferson  favored  the 
admission  of  slavery,  for  a  limited  period,  into  Ohio.  The  editors  of  the  "Life 
of  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler "  say  :  ' '  This  effort  was  supported  by  Jefferson's 
favorite  theory  of  States  rights.  The  advocates  of  the  measure  claimed  that,  as 
soon  as  the  State  assumed  its  own  autonomy  and  became  a  sovereign  among 
others,  it  had  the  right  to  decide  upon  the  provisions  of  an  ordinance  which  was 
the  act  of  only  one  party,  the  general  government.  The  central  and  southern 
portions  of  the  State  then  had  a  majority  of  the  population,  and  the  labor  of 
slaves  would  have  suited  the  interests  of  their  fertile  valleys,  while  the  political 
prospects  of  the  new  and  rising  '  States'  rights  democracy  would  have  been  ad- 
vanced by  holding  out  such  a  premium  for  emigration  from  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky »  (L,  348). 


358  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

to  exclude  them  from  being  examined  as  witnesses  in  courts 
of  justice  against  white  persons."  J  Colored  men  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  basis  of  representation  and  from  the  suffrage. 
The  sentiments  of  hostility  to  negroes  that  appeared  in  the 
Convention  afterward  ripened  in  the  infamous  "  Black  Laws  " 
of  Ohio,  the  last  vestiges  of  which  were  not  swept  from  the 
statute-book  until  1887. 

There  was  a  decided  change  of  sentiment  on  the  slavery 
question  in  Indiana  between  the  years  1807  and  1816.  At 
least,  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  evidence  of  a  slavery  con- 
troversy in  the  constitutional  convention.  The  constitution 
prohibited  slavery  in  the  words  of  Article  VI.  of  the  compacts 
of  1787,  and  coupled  with  it  this  clause  :  "Nor  shall  any  in- 
denture of  any  negro  or  mulatto,  hereafter  made  and  executed 
out  of  the  bounds  of  the  State,  be  of  any  validity  within  the 
State." 

In  no  one  of  the  three  States  bordering  the  Ohio  was 
there  such  a  determined  effort  made  to  nullify  the  sixth  com- 
pact as  in  Illinois.  This  was  partly  due  to  the  geographical 
position  of  the  State,  and  partly  to  the  character  of  the  popu- 
lation. The  lower  part  of  the  State  projects,  wedge-like,  into 
what  was  then  slave  territory.  It  was  as  well  adapted  to 
slave  labor  as  Kentucky  on  the  one  side  or  Missouri  on  the 
other.  Its  commercial  connections,  in  1818,  were  with  the 
down-the-river  country.  Here  was  the  stronghold  of  slavery 
in  the  day  of  French  domination.  Here  came  the  first  emi- 
grants in  the  new  regime.  Long  before  the  New  Englanders 
and  Middle  State  men  had  reached  the  Central  and  Northern 
parts  of  the  State,  Kentuckians,  Tennesseeans,  Carolinians, 
and  Virginians  made  their  way  by  the  Ohio  and  its  affluents 
into  this  new  "  Egypt."  Nearly  all  these  people  were  accus- 
tomed to  slavery ;  many  of  them  were  "  poor  whites,"  and 
were  intensely  eager  to  acquire  that  badge  of  distinction  in 
the  States  from  which  they  came,  the  ownership  of  slaves ; 

i  Notes,  354,  355. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  359 

many  of  them,  too,  were  very  ignorant,  and  nearly  all  were 
strongly  prejudiced  against  the  "  Yankees,"  as  they  called  all 
people  from  the  free  States.  In  a  word,  early  Illinois  was 
homogeneous  with  Kentucky  or  Tennessee  in  many  features, 
including  devotion  to  slavery.  No  attempt  was  made  in  the 
convention  that  framed  the  constitution  of  1818  to  abrogate 
the  Ordinance  in  terms,  but  the  provisions  now  to  be  men- 
tioned subverted  its  substance. 

In  room  of  a  prohibition  of  slavery  we  find  the  following  : 
"  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  hereafter  be 
introduced  into  this  State,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment 
of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted ; " 
a  plain,  practical  recognition  of  the  slavery  already  existing. 
The  Ohio  clauses  in  regard  to  indentures  were  copied  word  for 
word.  Slaves  holden  in  other  States  should  not  be  hired  to 
labor  in  Illinois  save  in  the  salt-works  tract  near  Shawneetown  ; 
nor  hired  for  a  longer  time  than  one  year,  or  after  the  year 
1825.  The  last  of  the  three  sections  devoted  to  the  subject 
legalized  the  contracts  and  indentures  already  existing  in  virt- 
ue of  the  laws  of  Illinois  Territory,  but  provided  that  the 
children  hereafter  born  of  such  indentured  persons,  negroes  or 
mulattoes,  should  become  free,  the  males  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  the  females  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years. 

When  the  resolution  declaring  the  admission  of  Illinois  to 
the  Union  was  on  its  passage  through  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, Mr.  Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  opposed  its  adop- 
tion on  the  ground  that  it  contravened  the  sixth  article  of  the 
Ordinance.  He  felt  himself  constrained  to  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  sections  of  the  constitution  described  above 
embraced  a  complete  recognition  of  existing  slavery,  if  not 
providing  for  its  future  introduction  and  toleration.  He  con- 
trasted the  Illinois  and  the  Indiana  Constitutions,  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  former.  Thirty-four  votes  were  registered 
in  the  House  against  the  resolution. 

But  the  real  battle  in  Illinois  followed  the  constitution. 
In  1822  Edward  Coles  was  elected  Governor  of  Illinois  over 


360  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

three  competitors.  There  were  no  proper  political  parties  or 
issues  in  the  State  at  the  time,  and  elections  turned  largely  on 
local  questions  and  personal  preferences ;  there  was  a  strong 
tendency  to  divide  along  the  slavery-line,  but  this  line  was 
not  so  tightly  drawn  as  to  prevent  two  pro-slavery  candidates" 
from  entering  the  field.  Coles  was  well  understood  to  be  an 
anti-slavery  man.  The  pro-slavery  candidates  together  had 
5,302  votes,  to  3,332  for  all  others,  and  Coles  was  elected  by 
a  plurality  of  only  50.  In  his  speech  to  the  legislature  the 
Governor  spoke  of  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  State  as  a 
violation  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  strongly  recommended 
its  abolition.  He  also  advised  a  general  revisal  of  the  Black 
Code  of  the  State.  These  recommendations  led  to  action 
very  different  from  what  the  Governor  desired. 

Up  to  this  point  the  pro-slavery  men  had  proceeded  upon 
the  theory  that  the  Ordinance  must  be  formally  observed 
until  the  State  was  fairly  in  the  Union.  They  now  invented 
a  new  theory,  or  perhaps  extended  the  old  one.  As  devel- 
oped by  a  committee  of  the  legislature,  this  theory  was  "  that 
the  people  of  Illinois  have  now  the  same  right  to  alter  their 
constitution  as  the  people  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  or  any 
other  of  the  original  States,  and  may  make  any  disposition  of 
negro  slaves  they  choose,  without  any  breach  of  faith  or  vio- 
lation of  compact,  ordinances,  or  acts  of  Congress."-1  The 
slave-owners  in  the  State  held  their  slaves  by  the  various 
titles  that  have  been  described.  In  1818  these  had  been 
thought  sufficient ;  but  now  the  Governor's  bold  challenge, 
and  the  increase  of  the  "  Yankee  "  population,  began  to  shake 
their  confidence  and  drive  them  to  the  conclusion  that  noth- 
ing short  of  a  constitution  sanctioning  slavery  would  make 
them  perfectly  safe.  Accordingly,  the  pro-slavery  men  in  the 
legislature,  by  resorting  to  the  most  flagrant  breaches  of 
parliamentary  law  and  of  common  justice,  carried  a  proposi- 
tion, by  the  requisite  two-thirds  vote  of  both  Houses,  to  sub- 

1  Washburne  :   Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,  68. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  361 

mit  the  question  of  a  constitutional  convention  to  the  people. 
This  proposition  was  adopted  at  the  winter  session,  1822-23; 
but,  fortunately,  it  could  not  be  voted  on  until  August,  1824. 
We  can  glance  at  only  two  or  three  features  of  the  remarka- 
ble contest  that  now  followed. 

The  men  who  passed  through  this  struggle  could  hardly 
find,  in  after  years,  language  strong  enough  to  describe  its 
violence  and  bitterness.  "  Men,  women,  and  children  entered 
the  arena  of  party  warfare  and  strife  ;"  "  families  and  neigh- 
borhoods were  so  divided  and  furious  and  bitter  against  one 
another,  that  it  seemed  a  regular  civil  war  might  be  the  re- 
sult ; "  "  many  personal  combats  were  indulged  in  ;  "  "  the 
press  teemed  with  publications;"  "stump  orators  were  in- 
voked;" "the  pulpit  thundered;"  "old  friendships  were 
sundered  ;  "  "  threats  of  personal  violence  were  frequent ; " 
"  pistols  and  dirks  were  in  great  demand  ;  "  "  the  whole  peo- 
ple, for  the  space  of  months,  did  scarcely  anything  but  read 
newspapers,  handbills,  and  pamphlets,  quarrel,  wrangle,  and 
argue  with  each  other  whenever  they  met  together  to  hear 
the  violent  harangues  of  their  orators" — these  are  excerpts 
from  the  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us.  On  the  pro- 
slavery  side,  especially,  the  campaign  was  marked  by  violence, 
passion,  appeals  to  ignorance  and  subterfuge,  partially  re- 
lieved by  those  half-true  arguments  that  have  so  often  done 
duty  in  defence  of  slavery.  The  social  and  industrial  condi- 
tion of  the  State  gave  that  side  a  great  advantage. 

"The  times  were  hard.  The  farmer  could  find  no  market 
for  his  abundant  crops.  Manufactures  languished,  improve- 
ments were  at  a  standstill,  and  the  mechanic  was  without  work. 
The  country  was  cursed  by  a  fluctuating  and  irredeemable 
paper  currency,  which  had  driven  all  real  money  out  of  circu- 
lation. The  flow  of  emigration  to  the  State  had  in  a  great 
measure  ceased,  but  a  great  emigration  passed  through  the 
State  to  Missouri.  Great  numbers  of  well-to-do  emigrants 
from  the  slave  States,  taking  with  them  their  slaves,  were  then 
leaving  their  homes  to  find  new  ones  west  of  the  Mississippi. 


362  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

When  passing  through  Illinois  to  their  destination,  with  their 
well  equipped  emigrant  wagons,  drawn  by  splendid  horses,  with 
their  retinue  of  slaves,  and  with  all  the  lordly  airs  of  that  class 
of  slave-holders,  they  avowed  that  their  only  reason  for  not  set- 
tling in  Illinois  was  that  they  could  not  hold  their  slaves.  This 
fact  had  a  very  great  influence,  particularly  in  that  part  of  the 
State  through  which  the  emigration  passed,  and  people  de- 
nounced the  unwise  provision  of  the  constitution  prohibiting 
slavery,  and  thus  preventing  a  great  influx  of  population,  to 
add  to  the  wealth  of  the  State."  ' 

From  the  first,  the  propagandists  fought  a  losing  battle. 
When  the  end  was  finally  reached,  the  vote  stood  :  Fora  con- 
vention, 4,950;  against  a  convention,  6,822 — being  a  majority 
of  1,872  in  a  total  vote  of  11,772.  In  view  of  this  large  ma- 
jority, the  subsequent  political  history  of  Illinois  for  thirty 
years  is  very  remarkable.  The  State  passed  almost  at  once 
into  the  hands  of  a  powerful  and  violent  pro-slavery  party,  and 
thus  remained  until  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
brought  about  a  new  combination  of  political  forces.  But  the 
attempt  to  enthrone  slavery  in  the  citadel  of  the  State  Con- 
stitution was  not  renewed. 

Generally  speaking,  the  leading  free-State  men  in  this  ex- 
traordinary contest  were  from  the  North,  the  slave-State  men 
from  the  South.  The  one  shining  exception  on  the  free-State 
side  was  the  incomparable  leader,  Edward  Coles.  Born  in  Albe- 
marle  County,  Va.,  in  1784,  Governor  Coles  was  one  of  those 
gentlemen  of  cultivation  and  fortune  of  whom  the  Old  Do- 
minion, in  the  last  century,  produced  so  many,  who  profoundly 
believed  American  slavery  to  be  an  economical  mistake,  a  po- 
litical evil,  and  a  moral  wrong.  He  belonged  to  the  Virginia 
school  of  politics,  and  saw  much  public  service  before  remov- 
ing to  the  West.  Popular  in  his  manners,  calm  in  his  judg- 
ment and  temper,  strong  in  his  political  and  social  connec- 
tions, able  and  polished  in  his  addresses  to  his  fellow-citizens, 

1  Washburne  :  Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,  132,  133. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  363 

easy  in  his  fortune,  which  he  freely  used  for  the  public  good, 
making  his  appeal  to  the  popular  reason  and  conscience  rather 
than  to  ignorance  and  passion,  the  governor  of  the  State,  and 
residing  at  the  capital,  where  he  could  make  his  influence 
felt — he  was  the  very  leader  who  was  needed.  To  him  has 
always  been  adjudged  the  honor  of  defeating  the  scheme  to 
make  Illinois  a  slave  State.  But  the  further  fact  must  be 
told,  that  this  statesman  and  benefactor  was  the  object  of  an 
unrelenting  persecution  from  the  day  that  he  communicated 
his  views  on  slavery  to  the  legislature  until,  shaking  the  Illi- 
nois dust  from  his  feet,  he  removed  to  Philadelphia,  in  1833. 
Mr.  Coles  removed  from  Virginia  to  Illinois,  because  he  would 
not  longer  consent  to  live  in  a  slave  State.  He  emancipated 
his  slaves,  because  he  would  not  longer  consent  to  be  the 
owner  of  property  in  man.  Fie  took  his  negroes  with  him  to 
his  new  home,  taking  good  care  to  make  suitable  provision 
for  their  material  well-being.  In  executing  this  benevolent 
purpose,  he  failed  to  conform  to  the  terms  of  a  law,  that  had 
never  been  published  and  the  existence  of  which  was  not 
commonly  known,  regulating  the  residence  of  free  negroes  in 
the  State.  For  this  offence  he  was  harassed  with  litigation, 
and  adjudged  to  pay  a  fine  of  $2,000,  which,  however,  was 
finally  remitted.  All  in  all,  it  does  not  seem  extravagant  to 
say  that  Mr.  Coles's  arrival  in  the  State,  in  1819,  was  more 
important  in  its  results  than  the  arrival  of  any  other  man  since 
Clark  summoned  Kaskaskia  to  surrender  in  1778. 

The  slavery  struggle  in  the  Northwestern  States  was 
watched  with  keen  interest  by  statesmen  at  a  distance.  Al- 
bert Gallatin  wrote  to  his  Genevan  friend  Badollet,  who  had 
become  a  citizen  of  that  State  :  "  If  you  have  had  a  share  in 
preventing  the  establishment  of  slavery  in  Indiana,  you  will 
have  done  more  to  that  part  of  the  country  at  least  than  com- 
monly falls  to  the  share  of  man."  l  And  W.  H.  Crawford  of 
Georgia,  himself  a  slave-holder,  cheered  the  heart  of  Gov- 

1  Cooley  :  Michigan,  135. 


364  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

ernor  Coles  in  the  Illinois  contest  with  the  words :  "  Is  it  pos- 
sible that  your  convention  is  intended  to  introduce  slavery 
into  the  State  ?  I  acknowledge,  if  I  were  a  citizen,  I  should 
oppose  it  with  great  earnestness ;  where  it  has  ever  been  intro- 
duced it  is  extremely  difficult  to  get  rid  of  and  ought  to  be 
treated  with  great  delicacy." '  Other  reasons  for  calling  a 
convention  were  assigned  in  the  controversy,  but  slavery  was 
the  only  real  issue. 

The  attentive  reader  of  the  preceding  history  will  not 
fail  to  see  several  places  where  events  might  easily  have  taken 
some  other  direction.  Nor  will  he  fail  to  ask,  "  With  what 
final  results  ?"  What  if  Ohio  had  formed  a  slave-State  con- 
stitution in  1802  ?  What  if  Illinois  had  actually  made  the 
proposed  change  in  1824?  What  would  Congress  and  the 
Supreme  Court,  possibly,  have  done  with  the  hard  questions 
that  would  have  arisen  in  such  a  contingency  ?  And  if  one 
or  both  of  those  States  had  become  slave  States,  what  then  ? 
What  would  have  happened  if  slave-State  men  had  been  in  a 
majority  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  no  one  can  do  more 
than  conjecture.  Fortunately,  at  the  decisive  tests  the  free- 
State  men  were  in  the  majority.  Moreover,  the  Ordinance 
helped  to  create  that  majority  as  well  as  to  protect  it  against 
assault.  Governor  Reynolds,  who  had  lived  in  Illinois  since 
1800  and  who  was  a  slave-State  man  in  1824,  although  he 
afterward  rejoiced  at  his  own  defeat,  said,  in  1855:  "This 
Act  of  Congress  was  the  great  sheet-anchor  that  secured  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  from  slavery.  I  never 
had  any  doubt  but  slavery  would  now  exist  in  Illinois,  if  it 
had  not  been  prevented  by  this  famous  Ordinance."  *  Never, 
perhaps,  in  the  history  of  political  controversy  was  the  advan- 
tage of  winning  the  victory  before  the  battle  was  fought  more 
happily  illustrated.  . 

In  the  sixty-two  years  following  the  adoption  of  the  Na- 
tional Constitution,  eighteen  new  States  were  brought  into 

1  Washburne  :  Sketch  of  Governor  Coles,  131.  *  My  Own  Times. 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   NORTHWEST.  365 

the  American  Union — nine  free  and  nine  slave  States.  Not 
only  were  the  numbers  of  free  and  slave  States  equal,  but  in 
several  instances  one  of  each  kind  came  in  together,  or  nearly 
so,  as  though  they  had  been  born  twins.  It  has  long  been 
the  habit,  at  least  in  the  Northern  States,  to  attribute  these 
so-called  "double  births  "to  the  management  of  statesmen, 
and  particularly  Southern  statesmen,  determined  to  perpetu- 
ate the  balance  of  freedom  and  slavery  in  the  Senate  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  in  the  electoral  colleges  and  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  It  is  true  that,  from  the  first,  there  were 
men  who  were  interested,  on  general  principles,  in  preserving 
this  balance ;  true  that  the  Slave  Power,  after  it  came  upon 
the  scene  with  distinct  ideas  and  purposes  of  its  own,  had  no 
greater  interest  in  any  political  subject  than  in  this  one  ;  also 
true  that,  when  it  became  demonstrably  apparent,  as  it  did 
about  1 850,  that  this  balance  could  not  be  maintained,  the  more 
ultra- Southerners  began  to  take  new  interest  in  the  idea  of  an 
independent  slave  republic.  But  it  is  important  to  observe 
that  the  coming  of  the  Slave  Power  upon  the  scene  with  such 
ideas  and  purposes  was  later  than  the  majority  of  men,  prone 
to  carry  too  far  backward  the  facts  with  which  they  are  per- 
sonally familiar,  suppose.  To  fix  definitely  its  arrival  may 
be  difficult,  or  impossible.  Certainly,  the  annexation  neither  of 
Louisiana  nor  of  Florida,  although  the  South  profited  by  both, 
was  a  Southern  measure.  Everything  considered,  the  fittest 
time  to  fix  upon  is  the  demand  for  the  annexation  of  Texas. 
But  that  annexation  was  as  largely  the  result  of  Manifest 
Destiny  as  of  slavery  aggression.  It  is  also  important  to  ob- 
serve that,  until  the  Northern  States, like  the  "  frozen  North" 
in  the  first  centuries,  burst  their  barriers,  and  poured  their 
floods  of  population  into  the  Lake  Basin  and  the  upper  parts 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  which  followed  the  opening  of  the 
great  thoroughfares  to  the  West,  of  which  the  Erie  Canal  was 
the  first,  the  West  and  the  South  were  much  more  homoge- 
neous in  thought,  in  temper,  and  in  manners  than  the  West 
and  New  England ;  and,  even  after  that  flow  began  in  large 


366  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

volume,  the  terms  "East"  and  "West"  had  more  political 
significance  than  the  terms  "  North  "  and  "  South."  What 
was  really  Western,  or,  at  most,  Southern-Western,  sentiment 
has  often  been  taken  for  the  distinct  and  peculiar  sentiment 
of  the  South.  It  is  really  worth  remembering  that,  when  dis- 
union was  first  heard  of,  the  dividing  line  proposed  ran  along 
the  Alleghany  Mountains.  Witness  the  letter  written  by 
Washington  to  Governor  Harrison  in  1784,  already  quoted 
from. 

The  creation  of  the  new  free  and  slave  States  was  due  to 
causes  far  more  powerful  than  state-craft.  In  1787  the  At- 
lantic Plain  and  the  West  marched  together  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  the  Northern  Lakes.  The  northern  half  of  the 
Plain  was  free,  the  southern  half  slave,  soil.  The  Southern 
population  was  inferior  in  numbers  to  the  Northern  popula- 
tion, but  it  had  the  advantage  of  position.  As  a  whole,  it 
was  much  nearer  to  the  West.  Two  of  the  four  channels 
of  Western  emigration  headed  within  the  limits  of  the  South. 
A  third  channel,  and  for  a  time  the  most  important  of  all,  be- 
longed to  the  South  in  common  with  the  North.  As  a  con- 
sequence, the  two  kinds  of  population,  taking  a  term  of  years 
together,  reached  the  Western  country  in  about  equal  num- 
bers, moving  mainly  along  parallels  of  latitude.  Still  further, 
the  line  separating  free-labor  and  slave-labor  productions,  the 
economical  and  political  consequences  of  which  Professor  J. 
E.  Cairnes  so  clearly  pointed  out  in  his  "  Slave  Power,"  di- 
vides the  West,  as  it  divides  the  East,  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts.  In  this  respect,  therefore,  freedom  and  slavery  had 
about  equal  advantages.  A  still  further  consideration  is,  that 
the  cotton-gin  and  other  mechanical  inventions  enormously 
increased  the  demand  for  cotton  about  the  time  that  the  new 
lands  were  laid  open  to  settlement.  He  who  considers  all 
these  things,  in  connection  with  the  facts  of  Western  geography, 
must  see  that  the  expansion  of  the  areas  of  freedom  and  of  sla- 
very in  the  United  States  was  due  to  natural  causes,  and  par- 
ticularly that  the  organization  and  admission  of  States  accord- 


SLAVERY    IN    THE   NORTHWEST.  367 

ing  to  programme,  were  as  much  beyond  the  ken  and  power  of 
statesmen  as  the  regulation  of  the  tides  and  eclipses  is  beyond 
the  power  of  natural  philosophers.  There  were  cases  when 
the  admission  of  States  was  hastened  or  retarded  somewhat 
by  political  management  growing  out  of  slavery.  But  the 
"  balance  "  theory  is  wholly  at  variance  with  the  facts  pertain- 
ing to  the  admission  of  the  earlier  States.  For  example, 
Kentucky  came  into  the  Union  in  1792,  and  Tennessee  in 
1796,  each  having  a  population  of  seventy-five  thousand  or 
more.  Ohio  was  admitted  in  1803,  Indiana  in  1816,  and  Illi- 
nois in  1818,  each  with  a  population  of  about  forty-five  thou- 
sand.1 The  reconciliation  of  the  case  of  Ohio  with  the 
"  balance  "  theory,  in  particular,  would  require  the  reversal  of 
all  the  most  important  facts  connected  with  its  admission. 

1  The  population  of  Kentucky  in  1790  was  73,677;  of  Tennessee,  in  1790, 
35,691  ;  in  1800,  105,602;  Ohio,  including  Michigan,  in  1800,45,365;  of  Indi- 
ana, in  1810,  24,520  ;  in  1820,  147,178 ;  of  Illinois,  in  1820,  55,162. 


XIX. 

THE   CONNECTICUT  WESTERN   RESERVE. 

ONE  effect  of  the  release  and  cession  of  Western  lands 
that  Connecticut  made,  September  14,  1786,  was  to  leave  her 
in  possession  of  the  territory  bounded  north  by  the  line  of 
42°  2',  or,  rather,  the  international  line,  east  by  the  western 
boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  south  by  the  forty-first  parallel, 
and  west  by  a  line  parallel  with  the  eastern  boundary  and  dis- 
tant from  it  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles — supposed,  at  the 
time,  to  be  equal  in  extent  to  the  Susquehanna  tract  given  to 
Pennsylvania,  1782.  Connecticut's  claim  included  both  the 
soil  and  the  jurisdiction.  If  the  territory  belonged  to  her  at 
all,  it  belonged  to  her  in  a  sense  as  full  and  absolute  as  any 
town  or  county  within  her  present  limits.  This  territory 
Connecticut  was  said  "  to  reserve,"  and  it  soon  came  to  be 
called  "  The  Connecticut  Western  Reserve,"  "  The  Western 
Reserve,"  etc.  These  names  were  popular  in  their  origin,  but 
they  were  not  long  in  making  their  way  into  legal  and  histori- 
cal documents.  The  disposition  to  be  made  of  these  lands 
became  at  once  an  interesting  State  question. 

In  October,  1786,  a  month  after  the  cession,  the  General 
Assembly  determined  to  offer  the  lands  lying  east  of  the 
Cuyahoga  and  Tuscarawas  Rivers  for  sale.  It  accordingly  di- 
rected that  they  be  surveyed  into  townships  six  miles  square, 
fixed  terms  of  sale,  dedicated  five  hundred  acres  in  every 
township  to  the  support  of  schools  and  the  same  quantity  to 
the  support  of  the  Gospel,  promised  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  in  fee  simple,  in  every  township,  to  the  first  minister 
who  should  settle  in  it,  and  guaranteed  peace  and  good  order 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  369 

to  the  settlers  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  until  it 
should  resign  its  jurisdiction  to  Congress  and  local  govern- 
ment be  established.  Beyond  the  Salt-springs  Tract  of  24,000 
acres,  lying  in  the  Mahoming  Valley,  sold  to  General  S.  H. 
Parsons,  which  was  not  surveyed  or  settled  until  many  years 
afterward,  nothing  was  done  in  pursuance  of  this  legislation. 

On  May  n,  1/92,  the  General  Assembly  quit-claimed  to 
the  inhabitants  of  several  Connecticut  towns  who  had  lost 
property  in  consequence  of  the  incursions  into  the  State  made 
by  the  British  troops  in  the  Revolution,  or  their  legal  repre- 
sentatives when  they  were  dead,  and  to  their  heirs  and  assigns, 
forever,  500,000  acres  lying  across  the  western  end  of  the  Re- 
serve, bounded  north  by  the  lake  shore,  said  lands  to  be  di- 
vided among  the  grantees  in  proportion  to  their  respective 
losses  as  found  and  reported  by  a  committee  previously  ap- 
pointed by  the  assembly.  The  total  number  of  sufferers,  as 
reported,  was  1,870,  and  the  aggregate  losses,  .£161,548  us. 
6^d.  The  grant  was  of  the  soil  only.  These  lands  are  known 
in  Connecticut  history  as  "  The  Sufferers'  Lands,"  in  Ohio 
history  as  "  The  Fire  Lands."  In  1796  the  Sufferers  were  in- 
corporated in  Connecticut,  and  in  1803  in  Ohio,  under  the 
title, "  The  Proprietors  of  the  Half-million  Acres  of  Land  lying 
south  of  Lake  Erie."  In  due  time  the  lands  were  surveyed 
into  one  hundred  and  twenty  tracts,  each  tract  being  one- 
fourth  of  a  township,  or  about  four  thousand  acres.1  Next, 
the  share-holders  were  arranged  in  "classifications,"  I,  2,  3,  4, 
etc.,  up  to  120;  each  "classification"  footing  up  one  one-hun- 
dred and  twentieth  part  of  the  whole  stock,  or  £1,343  75. 
The  tracts  of  land  were  now  apportioned  to  the  "  classifica- 
tions "  by  lot,  and  a  careful  registration  made  of  the  results. 
Nothing  remained  for  the  share-holders  making  up  a  "  classifi- 
cation "  to  do,  but  to  dispose  of  the  tract  of  land  that  they  had 
drawn,  in  any  manner  agreeable  to  themselves  :  To  sell  it  in  an 

1  There  were  also  some  broken  tracts  that  were  subdivided,  and  then  added 
to  the  120  to  "equalize  "  them. 
24 


370  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

undivided  form,  to  divide  it  among  themselves  by  agreement, 
or  to  resort  to  the  courts  for  proceedings  in  partition.  Con- 
necticut gave  no  deed  to  the  Fire  Lands  other  than  the  act  of 
the  legislature  making  the  appropriation  ;  and  this  act,  the 
"  classifications,"  and  the  record  of  "  drawings,"  all  recorded 
and  made  legal  evidence  by  the  State,  are  the  ultimate  title. 
An  abstract  of  title,  therefore,  in  Huron  or  Erie  County,  O., 
always  begins  with  a  statement  of  the  historical  circumstances 
now  recounted.  The  drawings  of  the  Fire  Lands  were  made 
November  9,  1808,  and  their  settlement  began  soon  after. 

In  May,  1793,  the  Connecticut  Assembly  offered  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  Reserve  for  sale ;  and  in  October  follow- 
ing it  enacted  that  the  moneys  received  should  be  a  pe/pet- 
ual  fund,  the  interest  of  which  should  be  appropriated  to  the 
several  ecclesiastical  societies  or  churches  of  all  denominations 
in  the  State,  to  be  by  them  applied  to  the  support  of  their  re- 
spective ministers  and  schools  of  education.  This  legislation 
caused  a  profound  agitation  throughout  the  State  that  finally 
led  to  its  repeal. 

In  May,  1795,  the  General  Assembly  the  third  time  of- 
fered the  lands  for  sale.  It  fixed  terms  and  conditions,  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  negotiate  the  sale,  and  set  apart  the 
proceeds  as  a  perpetual  fund,  the  interest  of  which  should  be 
appropriated  to  the  support  of  schools.1  In  the  September 


1  The  Connecticut  School  Fund,  which  amounts  to  something  more  than  two 
million  dollars,  consists  wholly  of  the  proceeds  of  those  lands  and  of  capitalized 
interest.  Hon.  C.  D.  Hine,  the  Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Education, 
questions  the  current  opinion  that  this  fund  has  promoted  the  cause  of  public 
education.  He  says : 

"The  School  Fund  derived  from  the  sale  of  Western  lands  yielded  an  income 
last  year  of  $120,855,  which  amounts  to  80  cents  for  each  person  of  the  school-age. 
The  average  expense  of  educating  each  of  these  persons  throughout  the  State  is 
$10.31,  so  that  the  fund  now  furnishes  about  eight  per  cent,  of  the  total  cost. 
In  those  towns  and  cities  where  the  people  insist  upon  good  schools,  no  reliance 
is  placed  upon  these  permanent  funds.  Indeed,  the  history  of  our  State  shows 
conclusively  that  at  the  time  when  the  fund  was  most  productive,  yielding  $1.40 
or  $1.50  for  each  person  of  the  school-age,  and  when  towns  depended  upon  it, 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  3/1 

following  this  legislation  the  committee  sold  the  lands  in  a 
body,  without  survey  or  measurement,  to  thirty-five  purchas- 
ers, who  severally  agreed  to  pay  stipulated  sums  that,  together, 
made  up  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the  price  of  the 
tract  agreed  upon.  The  committee  made  as  many  deeds  as 
there  were  purchasers.  The  deed  granted  to  the  purchaser, 
in  behalf  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  to  his  heirs  forever, 
all  right,  title,  and  interest,  "juridical  and  territorial,"  in  and  to 
a  certain  number  of  twelve  hundred-thousandths  of  the  lands 
described,  to  be  held  by  the  said  purchaser  as  tenant  in  com- 
mon of  said  whole  tract  or  territory  with  the  other  purchas- 
ers, and  not  in  severalty.  The  number  of  undivided  shares 
that  each  purchaser  received  was  the  same  as  the  number  of 
dollars  that  he  had  agreed  to  pay  toward  the  purchase-money. 
The  term  "  purchaser "  is  here  used  in  the  legal  sense ;  the 
number  of  persons  interested  in  the  purchase  being  much 
larger  than  the  number  of  purchasers.  The  sale  was  made  on 
credit ;  the  purchasers  at  the  time  gave  their  bonds  for  the 
amount  of  the  several  contracts,  with  personal  security,  but 
afterward  they  gave  mortgages  on  the  lands. 

Such  are  some  of  the  more  important  facts  pertaining  to 
the  largest  land-sale,  so  far  as  the  quantity  of  land  sold  is 
concerned,  ever  made  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  It  was  a  large 
transaction  of  any  kind  for  the  time.  Moreover,  it  was  fol- 

as  they  generally  did,  for  the  support  of  their  schools,  the  schools  themselves 
were  poor  and  short.  In  fact,  this  was  the  darkest  period  of  our  educational  ex- 
perience. A  very  striking  deterioration  took  place  as  soon  as  the  fund  became 
productive  and  the  income  began  to  be  distributed.  Before  that  period  schools 
had  been  maintained  at  least  six  months,  and  at  most  nearly  the  whole  year, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  district.  After,  and  not  long  after,  this  new  source 
of  income  was  opened,  the  usual  length  of  schools  was  reduced  to  only  three 
months,  or  just  the  time  that  this  fund  would  maintain  the  schools.  The  sums 
which  came  as  gratuities  relieved  the  people  of  responsibility  and  deadened  their 
interest,  until  the  schools  were  continued  only  so  long  as  the  charity  lasted.  Hap- 
pily, the  danger  from  this  direction  is  passed  and  cannot  return.  The  fund  has 
probably  reached  its  greatest  productiveness,  and  the  per  capita  will  constantly 
decrease.  The  public  schools  must  draw  their  sustenance  from  the  people  who 
are  directly  or  indirectly  benefited  by  them." — The  Nation,  No.  1076. 


3/2  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

lowed  at  once  by  events  of  far  more  than  a  temporary  or  local 
interest. 

The  purchasers  of  the  Reserve,  most  of  them  belonging 
to  Connecticut,  but  some  to  Massachusetts  and  New  York, 
were  men  desirous  of  trying  their  fortunes  in  Western  lands. 
Oliver  Phelps,  perhaps  the  greatest  land-speculator  of  the 
time,  was  at  their  head.  September  5,  1795,  they  adopted 
articles  of  agreement  and  association,  constituting  themselves 
the  Connecticut  Land  Company.  The  company  was  never 
incorporated,  but  was  what  is  called  to-day  a  "syndicate." 
They  divided  the  stock  into  four  hundred  shares  of  $3,000 
each.  They  determined  to  survey  the  lands  into  townships 
of  five  miles  square.  They  appointed  seven  directors  and 
three  trustees,  with  defined  powers  and  functions.  In  April, 
1796,  the  company  adopted  a  very  elaborate  method  of  par- 
titioning the  lands.  Six  townships  should  be  offered  for  sale 
for  the  benefit  of  the  company  as  such.  Four  townships  should 
be  surveyed  into  four  hundred  tracts  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  each,  to  be  distributed  among  the  share-holders 
by  lot.  The  remaining  lands  should  be  divided  into  "  equal- 
ized "  parcels,  to  be  distributed  in  the  same  way  :  (i)  A  cer- 
tain number  of  the  best  townships  should  be  set  apart  as 
standard  townships ;  (2)  certain  other  townships  and  parts 
of  townships  should  be  cut  up  into  tracts,  to  be  added  (3)  to 
the  remaining  townships  to  equalize  them  with  the  best  ones. 

In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  the  directors  sent  out  the 
first  party  &f  surveyors,  consisting,  all  told,  of  fifty  persons. 
The  party  assembled  at  Schenectady,  and  ascended  the  Mo- 
hawk to  Fort  Stanwix,  whence  most  of  them  passed,  with  the 
boats  and  stores,  over  the  portage  to  Wood  Creek,  and  then 
down  that  stream,  Oneida  Lake,  and  Oswego  River  to  Lake 
Ontario  ;  but  some  made  their  way  by  Canandaigua,  then  the 
Western  outpost  of  civilization  on  that  route,  to  Buffalo 
Creek.  The  British  garrison  holding  Fort  Oswego  caused 
those  who  went  by  that  route  some  inconvenience,  calling 
out  from  one  of  the  surveyors  the  observation :  "  Such  are 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  373 

the  effects  of  allowing  the  British  Government  to  exist  on 
the  continent  of  America."1  At  Buffalo  the  agent  bought 
of  the  Indians  their  remaining  claim  to  the  lands  east  of  the 
Cuyahoga  River  for  £500,  New  York  currency  in  trade,  two 
beef  cattle,  and  one  hundred  gallons  of  whiskey.  From 
Buffalo  the  surveyors  made  their  way  westward  along  the 
south  shore  of  the  lake,  reaching  the  mouth  of  Conneaut 
Creek,  where  they  fixed  their  base  of  operations,  July  4th. 
Here  their  first  act  was  to  celebrate  the  twentieth  anniversary 
of  American  Independence,  which  they  did  with  much  enthu- 
siasm. Two  of  the  toasts  ran  thus  : 

"  May  the  Port  of  Independence  [as  they  christened  the 
place],  and  the  fifty  sons  and  daughters  who  have  entered  it 
this  day,  be  successful  and  prosperous."  "  May  these  sons  and 
daughters  multiply  in  sixteen  years  sixteen  times  fifty."  2 

The  settlement  of  the  Western  Reserve  properly  dates 
from  this  celebration.  General  Moses  Cleaveland,  the  agent 
in  charge,  with  a  few  companions,  soon  moved  on  to  the  west, 
reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  July  22d,  from 
which  day  there  have  always  been  white  men  on  the  site  of 
the  city  that  takes  its  name  from  him.3 

The  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  as  run  ten  years 
before,  and  the  parallel  forty-one  degrees  north,  now  run  for 
the  first  time,  were  the  base-lines  of  the  survey.4  The  courses 

1  Whittlesey  :  Early  History  of  Cleveland,  174. 

2  Whittlesey :  Early  History  of  Cleveland,  182.     In  1810  the  population  of 
the  Reserve  was  16,092. 

3  "  It  was  in  1830  that  a  newspaper  called  The  Cleveland  Advertiser  was  estab- 
lished.    In  preparing  to  issue  the  first  number,  the  editor  discovered  that  the 
heading  was  too  long  to  fit  the  form,  and  so,  in  order  to  adjust  it,  he  dropped 
out  the  letter  'a'  in  the  first  syllable  of  the  word  'Cleaveland,'  and  made  it 
read  'Cleveland.'     The  public  at  once  accepted  this  change  in  orthography." — 
Rice  :  Sketches  of  Western  Life,  23. 

4  The  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania  has  an  interesting  history.     As  early 
as  the  troubles  with  Virginia,  the  question  arose,  "From  what  point  on  the  Del- 
aware shall  the  five  degrees  of  longitude  be  measured  ?  "     A  glance  at  the  map 
will  show  that  different   answers   to  this  question  would  materially  affect  the 
State's  westward   extension.     Messrs.  Tilghman  and  Allen,    the  Pennsylvania 


374  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

north  and  south  were  called  "  ranges ;  "  east  and  west,  "  town- 
ships." Cleveland  is  in  No.  7  in  range  12;  that  is,  the 
seventh  township  counting  from  the  southern  boundary,  and 
the  twelfth  counting  from  the  eastern  one.  It  was  several 
years  before  the  surveys  were  finished.  The  lands  and  other 
property  of  the  company  were  drawn  in  four  drafts — in  1798, 
1802,  1807,  and  1809.  The  trustees,  to  whom  all  the  lands 
had  been  deeded  by  the  share-holders,  in  trust,  in  1795,  made 
the  deeds  ;  and  with  the  last  draft  the  company  was  dis- 
solved, having  been  in  existence  fourteen  years. 

As  a  land-speculation,  the  purchase  of  the  Reserve  was 
unfortunate.  In  1795  the  ideas  concerning  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  dating  from  the  old  French  days,  had  not 
been  corrected  ;  and  the  company  supposed  they  were  buy- 
ing 4,000,000  acres  of  land.  The  survey  proved  that  they 
had  bought  less  than  3,000,000  acres.1  Instead  of  thirty 

commissioners  sent  to  Williamsburg  in  1774,  proposed  that  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  be  run  to  a  point  five  degrees  from  the  river,  and  that  from  this  point  a 
series  of  zigzag  lines  be  run  northward,  "  similar  to  the  courses  of  the  Delaware." 
Lord  Dunmore  replied  that  the  Crown  could  not  have  intended  such  a  boundary 
as  this,  because  it  was  so  "very  inconvenient."  The  agreement  of  1779  provided 
that  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  should  be  run  west  five  degrees  from  the  river,  and 
that  a  meridian  line  drawn  from  this  point  should  be  the  western  boundary  of 
Pennsylvania.  This  meridian  line  was  run  in  1785  and  1786,  Andrew  Ellicott 
being  the  chief  engineer.  The  line  between  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  was  re-run 
and  re-marked  by  a  joint  State  commission,  beginning  in  1878.  Virginia  really 
fought  the  battle  of  Ohio  against  Pennsylvania,  If  the  "zigzag"  plan  had  been 
adopted,  or  if  a  meridian  boundary  had  been  run  five  degrees  west  of  the  west- 
ernmost point  of  the  Delaware,  Ohio  would  have  shown  very  differently  upon 
the  map  from  what  it  does.  The  survey  of  parallel  forty-one  degrees  was  not 
completed  till  1806.  The  line  departs  slightly  from  the  true  parallel  as  it  runs 
westward  ;  but  the  Surveyor-General  advised  in  1810  that  it  be  not  disturbed. 
See  Chapman  :  The  French  in  the  Alleghany  Valley,  197  et  seq.  Report  of  the 
joint  commission  appointed  by  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  to  ascertain 
and  re-mark  the  boundary-line  between  said  States.  Whittlesey  :  Western  Re- 
serve Historical  Society,  Tract  No.  6l.  Historical  Collections  of  the  Mahoning 
Valley,  I.,  $17  et  seq. 

1  The  precise  quantity  of  land  in  the  purchase  is  matter  of  dispute.  Perhaps 
2,837,109  acres  is  the  best  estimate.  The  same  authority  makes  the  whole  Re- 
serve consist  of  3,333,699  acres.  Whittlesey,  258,  259. 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  375 

cents  an  acre,  they  had  paid  more  than  forty  cents.  The  ex- 
penses of  the  survey  were  much  heavier  than  the  company 
anticipated.  And,  finally,  a  jurisdictional  question,  having  its 
origin  in  the  charter  of  1662,  caused  them  much  vexation  and 
pecuniary  loss,  and  even  threatened  to  deprive  them  of  the 
property  altogether. 

The  troubles  of  the  Land  Company  began  almost  with  its 
existence.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  State  had  sold  to 
the  company  the  juridical  and  territorial  right,  as  well  as  the 
soil,  of  the  tract.  For  a  State  to  alienate  the  jurisdiction  of 
one-half  its  territory  to  a  company  of  land-speculators  that 
never  rose  to  the  dignity  of  a  body  corporate  and  politic  was 
certainly  a  remarkable  proceeding.  Whether  the  subject  at- 
tracted much  attention  at  the  time,  and,  if  so,  what  was  the 
current  theory  of  jurisdiction,  are  questions  very  difficult  to 
answer.  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  who  studied  the  early 
history  of  the  Western  Reserve  with  great  care,  and  who  was 
himself  a  part  of  that  history,  remarks,  touching  this  feature 
of  the  transaction  :  "  So  little  was  known  at  this  time  of  the 
respective  powers  of  the  State  and  of  the  United  States,  un- 
der the  Constitution  of  1787,  that  many  of  the  parties  thought 
the  Land  Company  had  received  political  authority,  and 
could  found  here  a  new  State.  They  imagined  themselves, 
like  William  Penn,  to  be  proprietors,  coupled  with  the  rights 
of  self-government."  He  says,  also,  that  both  parties  to  the 
transaction  "  imagined  that  the  deed  of  Connecticut  conveyed 
powers  of  civil  government  to  the  company,  and  that  the 
grantees  might  organize  a  new  State; "  but  adds  that  "the 
United  States  objected  to  this  mode  of  setting  up  States." 
Whittlesey  also  speaks  as  though  the  establishment  of  a  new 
State  by  the  company  was,  at  one  time,  a  settled  purpose. 
New  Connecticut  was  to  be  governed  from  Hartford,  as  New 
England  had  been  by  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  in  England.1 

1  Early  History  of  Cleveland,  167,  168  ;  Early  Civil  Jurisdiction  on  the  South 
Shore  of  Lake  Erie,  4. 


37<5  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

A  new  State  was  certainly  in  the  air  in  1796.  The  second  of 
the  toasts  drunk,  in  "  several  pails  of  grog,"  at  the  Conneaut 
celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  was :  "  The  State  of  New 
Connecticut."  But  what  part  the  company  expected  to  play  in 
establishing  the  new  State  is  not  very  clear.  If  it  ever  im- 
agined itself  clothed  with  juridical  and  territorial  powers,  it 
soon  dismissed  such  a  thought. 

By  1800  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  settlements  had  been 
begun  on  the  Reserve.  The  census  of  that  year  reports  a 
population  of  1,302  souls.  These  facts  point  to  a  society, 
young  and  small,  indeed,  but  active  and  growing,  transacting 
the  business  incident  to  their  condition,  and  accustomed, 
withal,  to  the  forms  and  machinery  of  legal  government. 
Lands  were  bought  and  sold  ;  contracts  relating  to  personal 
services  were  entered  into ;  marriages  were  solemnized  in  vari- 
ous places.  But  there  was  no  government  whatever ;  no  laws 
or  records,  no  magistrates  or  police.  The  people  were  thor- 
oughly trained  in  civil  obedience ;  they  were  orderly  and  fully 
competent  to  govern  themselves ;  and  yet,  in  those  three  or 
four  years,  the  need  of  civil  institutions  began  to  be  severely 
felt.  The  lack  of  records,  in  particular,  was  a  source  of  much 
embarrassment. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  whether  the  relation  of  the  Con- 
necticut Reserve  to  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the  River 
Ohio  was  considered  in  1787  or  not;  but  Governor  St.  Clair 
included  all  that  part  of  it  lying  east  of  the  Cuyahoga  River 
in  Washington  County,  organized  July  26,  1788.  In  1796  he 
included  the  whole  Reserve  in  Wayne  County,  the  county 
seat  of  which  was  Detroit.  Once  more,  July  29,  1797,  he  in- 
cluded the  eastern  part  in  Jefferson  County.  St.  Clair  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  theory  that  his  jurisdiction  extended  over 
lands  that  had  not  been  ceded  to  the  United  States,  as  well 
as  over  lands  that  had  been  ceded  ;  and  perhaps  this  was  the 
natural  view  for  him  to  take,  since  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
made  no  discrimination.  But  it  was  a  view  that  necessarily 
brought  on  a  collision  with  the  Reserve  settlers.  The  erec- 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN    RESERVE.  377 

tion  of  Jefferson  County  coincided  with  the  arrival  of  settlers 
on  the  soil,  and  so  became  the  occasion  of  the  collision. 

General  Parsons  caused  his  deed  of  the  Salt-springs  Tract 
to  be  recorded  at  Marietta.  Some-  of  those  who  bought  parts 
of  the  tract  from  him  did  the  same.  A  few  deeds  were  also 
recorded  at  Steubenville,  the  county  seat  of  Jefferson  County. 
But  the  people  of  the  Reserve,  with  practical  unanimity,  de- 
nied the  Territorial  jurisdiction.  «/The  Jefferson  County  au- 
thorities sent  an  agent  to  inquire  into  the  matter  of  taxation ; 
but  the  settlers  laughed  at  him,  and  he  returned  to  Steuben- 
ville no  richer  and  no  wiser  than  he  came.  The  laughter 
showered  upon  the  unfortunate  tax-gatherer  signified  much 
more  than  the  familiar  disposition  to  avoid  the  payment  of 
taxes.  No  further  attempt  was  made  to  extend  the  Territo- 
rial jurisdiction  over  the  Reserve  until  some  very  important 
legislation  had  been  enacted  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Hartford. 

The  settlers  resisted  the  authority  of  the  Territory,  and  so 
of  the  United  States,  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  ' 
Ostensibly,  they  were  defending  the  right  and  dignity  of  that 
ancient  commonwealth.  But  the  State  herself  was  indiffer- 
ent to  the  controversy.  She  even  refused  to  assert  her  juris- 
diction when  the  Land  Company  importuned  her  to  do  so. 
Having  divested  herself  of  the  territory,  she  apparently  took 
little  further  interest  in  the  subject. 

On  January  27,  1797,  only  a  few  days  after  the  first 
party  of  surveyors  returned  from  the  Reserve,  the  stock- 
holders of  the  company,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Hartford,  in- 
structed the  directors  and  trustees  to  make  application  to 
the  General  Assembly  at  the  next  ensuing  session  for  an 
act  erecting  the  Western  Reserve  into  an  entire  and  distinct 
county,  "  with  proper  and  suitable  laws,  to  regulate  the  in- 
ternal policy  of  said  territory  for  a  limited  term  of  time,  and 
the  same  to  be  administered  at  the  sole  expense  of  proprie- 
tors." l  Presumably,  such  an  application  was  made,  but  the 

1  The  quotations  from  the  proceedings  of  the  stock-holders  are  made  from 
The  Book  of  Drafts,  in  the  records  of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio. 


378  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

General  Assembly  took  no  such  action.  It  did  not  care  to 
repeat,  upon  a  more  distant  field,  the  Westmoreland  experi- 
ment. This  was  the  first  of  several  distinct  calls  that  the 
Land  Company  made  upon  the  State  to  exercise  the  juridical 
and  territorial  right  that  she  had  formally  laid  aside. 

In  October,  1797,  the  stock-holders  gave  the  directors  and 
trustees  "  full  authority  to  pursue  such  measures  as  they 
deemed  best  calculated  to  procure  legal  and  practical  govern- 
ment over  the  territory  belonging  to  the  company."  A  new 
tack  was  now  taken.  The  Connecticut  Assembly  passed  an 
act  authorizing  its  Senators  in  Congress  to  execute,  in  the 
name  of  the  State,  a  deed  releasing  to  the  United  States  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Reserve.  On  January  12,  1798,  Mr.  Tracy 
moved,  in  the  Senate,  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  take 
into  consideration  the  acceptance  of  such  a  cession.  At  the 
next  session  of  Congress  the  Senate,  after  mature  deliberation, 
passed  a  bill  to  that  effect,  but  the  House  of  Representatives 
postponed  it,  and  the  measure  fell. 

Meantime  the  company  was  calling  for  help  more  and 
more  loudly.  On  January  22,  1798,  the  stock-holders  voted 
that  if  Congress  should  agree  to  accept  from  the  company 
their  juridical  right  to  the  Western  Reserve,  then  application 
should  be  made  to  Governor  St.  Clair  to  erect  all  that  part  of 
it  to  which  the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished  into  an 
entire  and  distinct  county  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  At 
the  next  meeting,  held  in  October,  1798,  the  stock-holders  in- 
structed the  directors  to  appoint  an  agent  "  to  proceed  on 
Philadelphia  "  to  facilitate  the  acceptance  of  the  jurisdiction. 
They  voted,  also,  that  in  case  the  application  to  Congress 
should  fail,  then  the  directors  should  "  pursue  the  petition  of 
the  company  now  pending  before  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  State,  at  their  next  session."  In  May,  1799,  the  stock- 
holders spoke  again,  and  more  distinctly  than  ever. 

"  Voted,  that  the  trustees  and  directors  be  authorized,  and 
they  are  hereby  requested,  to  make  out  and  lay  before  the 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  379 

General  Assembly  of  the  State,  now  in  session,  a  statement  in 
writing  of  the  measures  taken  by  the  Company  before  Con- 
gress at  their  last  session  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  an  accept- 
ance of  the  cession  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Western  Reserve. 
Also  a  statement  of  the  sums  of  money  actually  expended  by 
the  Company  in  surveying  lands,  cutting  roads,  and  erecting 
mills.  Also  the  probable  sums  disbursed  by  individuals  in 
making  improvements  in  different  parts  of  the  Reserve  the  last 
and  present  years.  Also  state  the  difficulty  of  making  any 
sales  of  the  lands  by  the  proprietors  and  enforcing  a  payment 
of  sales  already  made  arising  from  the  want  of  government  in 
and  over  the  territory." 

And  at  still  another  meeting  the  directors  were  instructed 
to  represent  to  the  assembly  the  ill  success  of  the  application 
to  Congress,  the  continued  embarrassed  situation  of  the  stock- 
holders' property,  the  difficulty  of  raising  money  out  of  the 
land,  and  to  pray  the  assembly  to  extend  government  over 
the  territory  until  Congress  should  accept  the  cession  of  juris- 
diction, or  to  grant  such  other  relief  as  they  should  think 
proper. 

Nothing  could  mark  the  desperation  of  the  Land  Com- 
pany's situation  more  distinctly  than  these  votes.  The  stock- 
holders fly  from  the  assembly  to  Congress,  and  from  Con- 
gress to  the  assembly.  Men  desiring  Western  lands  would 
hesitate  to  purchase  in  a  district  where  there  was  no  govern- 
ment, and  particularly  where  the  right  to  govern  was  in  dis- 
pute. Men  owning  lands  would  hesitate  to  sell  so  long  as 
payment  could  not  be  enforced.  But  all  this  time  there  was 
an  authority  standing  ready  to  extend  itself,  at  a  moment's 
notice,  over  the  Reserve.  All  that  the  Land  Company  and 
the  settlers  had  to  do  was  to  let  their  wants  be  known  to 
Governor  St.  Clair.  Connecticut  did  not  restrain  them  in 
the  least.  Perhaps  the  company  and  the  settlers  would  have 
applied  to  him  for  relief  had  it  not  been  for  a  question  that 
is  never  for  a  moment  admitted  into  the  minutes  of  the  com- 
pany's proceedings,  but  that  the  man  attempting  to  write  the 


380  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

civil  history  of  the  Western  Reserve  must  bring  into  the  fore- 
ground, viz.,  the  insufficiency  of  the  Connecticut  title  to  the 
soil  and  its  relation  to  the  jurisdiction. 

The  history  of  the  Northwestern  cessions  need  not  be 
again  recited  at  length.  But  it  is  important  to  observe  that 
the  validity  of  all  the  Western  land-claims  had  been  by  many 
denied ;  that  the  lands  ceded  and  the  lands  reserved  by  Con- 
necticut had  all  been  claimed  by  New  York  and  Virginia; 
that  the  acceptance  of  the  partial  cession  made  by  Connecti- 
cut in  1786  had  been  strongly  opposed  in  Congress,  on  the 
ground  that  such  acceptance  would  be  a  guarantee  of  the  reser- 
vation ;  and  that,  in  consequence,  a  cloud  rested  on  the  title 
to  the  Reserve.  The  situation  was  perfectly  understood  at 
the  time  the  sale  and  purchase  were  made.  The  State  only 
quit-claimed  to  the  Land  Company  her  own  right  and  title 
to  the  territory,  and  received  a  consideration  from  the  com- 
pany that  was  graduated  with  reference  to  the  title.  The 
change  of  owners  excited  new  doubts  rather  than  allayed  old 
ones.  The  survey  of  the  lands,  the  inflow  of  population,  and 
the  attempt  to  embrace  the  Reserve  in  the  Territorial  jurisdic- 
tion kept  the  subject  before  men's  minds.  Thus,  the  original 
doubt  as  to  the  title  tended  to  cast  a  shadow  on  every  land- 
transaction  within  the  district.  These  facts  do  not  appear  in 
the  minutes  of  the  stock-holders'  meetings ;  but  the  question 
whether  the  company  could  make  valid  titles  caused  as  much 
difficulty  in  making  sales  of  lands  as  the  want  of  a  govern- 
ment to  protect  society  and  to  enforce  contracts.  Further- 
more, Connecticut  held  the  soil  before  1795  by  the  same  title 
that  she  held  the  jurisdiction  ;  and  if  the  jurisdiction  was  in 
the  United  States  after  1786,  then  the  ownership  of  the  soil 
was  there  too.  Accordingly,  the  extension  of  the  Territorial 
Government  over  the  Reserve  was  a  real,  though  not  an  in- 
tended, menace  to  the  Connecticut  title  that  the  company 
and  the  settlers  alike  could  do  no  less  than  resist.  The  com- 
pany's situation  was,  therefore,  much  more  serious  than  the 
resolutions  quoted  above  imply.  It  needed  to  have  the  ques- 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  381 

tion  of  ownership  settled  as  much  as  it  needed  to  have  a  gov- 
ernment established. 

What  the  terms  of  the  Senate  bill  of  1798-99  were  is 
known  only  inferentially.  The  title  shows  that  it  authorized 
the  acceptance  by  the  United  States,  from  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, of  a  cession  of  the  jurisdiction  over  the  Reserve.  It 
must  also  have  contained  a  cession  by  the  United  States  to 
the  State  of  Connecticut  of  the  soil  of  the  Reserve.  Without 
such  a  guarantee,  the  position  of  the  company  as  to  titles 
would  have  been  weakened  rather  than  strengthened,  and 
perhaps  subverted  altogether. 

On  February  18,  1800,  Mr.  Brace,  of  Connecticut,  offered 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  resolution  creating  a  com- 
mittee to  take  into  consideration  the  expediency  of  accepting 
the  cession  of  jurisdiction.  A  few  days  later  such  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed,  with  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia,  soon 
afterward  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  as  chair- 
man.  Marshall's  report  covers  five  of  the  ample  pages  of  the 
"  State  Papers."  '  More  than  three-fourths  of  this  report  is  a 
mere  transcript  of  one  made  to  the  Senate  the  year  before  by 
Mr.  Reed  ;  but,  since  it  had  Marshall's  approval  and  was  the 
basis  of  the  subsequent  action  of  Congress,  it  is  the  most 
authoritative  paper  ever  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  Con- 
necticut's title  to  the  lands  within  her  charter-limits  west  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  recites  the  history  of  the  charters  from  1606 
to  1664 ;  considers  the  controversy  between  England  and 
France,  closed  by  the  treaty  of  1763  ;  mentions  the  Quebec 
Act;  recounts  the  boundary-disputes  between  Connecticut  and 
New  York,  and  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania  ;  relates  the 
history  of  the  cessions,  followed  by  the  acts  of  the  Connecticut 
Legislature  pertaining  to  the  Reserve,  and  the  sale  to  the  Land 
Company.  The  company  have  paid  $100,000  of  interest  on 
the  purchase-money,  and  expended  $80,000  on  the  survey  and 
various  improvements.  Thirty-five  settlements  have  been 

1  Public  Lands,  I.,  94. 


382  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

made,  containing  a  population  of  about  a  thousand  people. 
The  dilemma  of  the  company  is  stated  in  a  single  sentence : 
"  As  the  purchasers  of  the  land  commonly  called  the  Connecti- 
cut Reserve  hold  their  title  under  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
they  cannot  submit  to  the  government  established  by  the 
United  States  in  the  Northwestern  Territory,  without  endan- 
gering their  titles,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut  could 
not  be  extended  over  them  without  much  inconvenience." 
The  report  closes  with  the  declaration  that,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  committee,  the  offer  of  the  jurisdiction  ought  to  be  ac- 
cepted on  the  terms  and  conditions  specified  in  the  accom- 
panying bill.  The  aim  throughout  is  to  establish  the  validity 
of  the  Connecticut  title.  Connecticut  is  seized  of  the  juris- 
diction ;  she  could  set  up  a  government  on  the  Reserve  if  she 
chose  to  do  so ;  it  is  far  better  to  merge  the  jurisdiction  in 
the  Northwest  Territory — such  is  the  logic  of  the  report. 

The  bill  as  passed  authorized  the  President,  in  the  name 
and  in  behalf  of  the  United  States,  to  execute  and  deliver  to 
the  Governor  of  Connecticut  letters  patent  whereby  the  right, 
title,  interest,  and  estate  of  the  United  States  to  the  territory 
commonly  called  the  Western  Reserve  should  be  released  and 
conveyed  to  the  said  Governor  and  his  successors  in  office, 
"  for  the  purpose  of  quieting  the  grantees  and  purchasers  under 
said  State  of  Connecticut,  and  confirming  their  titles  to  the 
soil  of  the  said  tract  of  land  ;  "  provided,  however,  that  Con- 
necticut should,  within  eight  months  from  the  passage  of  the 
act,  by  a  legislative  act,  renounce  forever  all  territorial  and 
jurisdictional  claims  whatever  to  the  soil  and  jurisdiction  of 
any  and  all  lands  lying  westward,  southwestward,  and  north- 
westward of  the  eastern  line  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as 
ascertained  by  the  agreement  of  1733  between  New  York 
and  Connecticut,  excepting  from  such  renunciation  only  the 
Western  Reserve ;  provided,  further,  that  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut should  also,  within  eight  months,  execute  and  de- 
liver to  the  President  a  deed  expressly  releasing  to  the  United 
States  the  jurisdictional  claim  of  the  said  State  of  Connect!- 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  383 

cut  to  the  Reserve  ;  provided,  also,  that  this  act  shall  not  "  be 
construed  to  pledge  the  United  States  for  extinguishment  of 
the  Indian  title  to  the  said  lands,  or  further  than  merely  to  pass 
the  title  of  the  United  States  thereto."  Another  proviso 
was  added,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  that  the  act  should 
not  be  construed  in  any  manner  to  question  the  conclusive 
settlement  of  the  dispute  between  Pennsylvania  and  Con- 
necticut by  the  Federal  Court  at  Trenton  in  1782. 

This  bill  was  vehemently  opposed  in  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress. Mr.  Cooper,  of  New  York,  first  moved  to  postpone  it 
until  the  next  session,  and  then  to  amend  it  in  such  a  way  as 
19  make  it  obnoxious  to  the  Pennsylvania  members.  Mr. 
Elmendorf,  of  the  same  State,  also  moved  an  amendment  in 
the  spirit  of  obstruction.  Mr.  Marshall  made  a  lengthy  speech 
in  favor  of  the  bill  and  against  the  Elmendorf  amendment. 
Mr.  Randolph  and  Mr.  Nicholas,  both  of  Virginia,  made  long 
speeches  against  the  "principle  of  the  bill."  Elmendorf  ar- 
gued at  great  length  against  the  validity  of  Connecticut's 
claim  to  the  lands,  and  Mr.  Bird,  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph followed  on  the  same  side.  The  bill  passed  the  House 
— ayes,  54 ;  nays,  36.  In  the  Senate  an  amendment  to  make 
the  execution  and  delivery  of  the  letters  patent  contingent 
upon  a  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
affirming  the  validity  of  the  Connecticut  claim,  was  lost — ayes, 
10;  nays,  15.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate — ayes,  15;  nays, 
10.  President  Adams's  approval,  given  April  28,  1800,  made 
the  bill  a  law. 

The  questions  arise  :  "  Why  such  a  determined  opposition 
to  this  measure  ?  "  "  What  objection  could  be  urged  against 
a  bill  that  seems  so  reasonable  and  so  necessary  ? "  Not  a 
scrap  of  the  speeches  made  on  either  side  has  been  preserved, 
and  the  entries  in  the  "  Journals  "  and  the  "  Annals  "  are  al- 
ways brief,  and  often  obscure.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  reading  between  the  lines  the  general  grounds 
of  objection. 

There  was  no  reason  why  the  surrender  and  acceptance 


384  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

of  the  jurisdiction  should  provoke  opposition  ;  nor  did  it.  It 
was  the  release  and  conveyance  to  Connecticut  of  the  right, 
title,  interest,  and  estate  of  the  United  States  that  made  all 
the  trouble.  Marshall's  report  was  written  to  establish  the 
validity  of  Connecticut's  claim,  and  the  bill  proposed,  virt- 
ually, to  guarantee  that  claim.  It  could  be  argued,  in  oppo- 
sition, that  the  lands  in  question  belonged  to  the  United 
States:  (i)  Because  the  British  Crown  had  ceded  them  in 
1783  ;  or  (2)  because  New  York  had  ceded  them  in  1781  ;  or 
(3)  because  Virginia  had  ceded  them  in  1784.  A  certain 
temptation  to  deny  the  Connecticut  title,  and  to  hold  that  the 
lands  were  a  part  of  the  national  domain,  arose  from  their 
commercial  value.  Then  an  objector  might  argue  that,  since 
the  cession  and  the  reservation  of  1786  were  final,  and  since 
both  the  soil  and  the  jurisdiction  belonged  to  Connecticut, 
Congress  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter ;  and  that  the 
State,  the  Land  Company,  and  the  settlers  must  get  out  of 
their  troubles  the  best  way  they  could.  It  could  also  be  ob- 
jected that  the  passing  of  a  title  from  the  Nation  to  the  State 
was  unnecessary,  because  if  Connecticut  owned  the  jurisdic- 
tion she  also  owned  the  soil.  Marshall's  report  and  the  ac- 
companying bill  were  not  logically  consistent.  The  more 
cogently  Marshall  reasoned  to  show  the  validity  of  the  Con- 
necticut title,  the  more  conclusively  did  he  prove  that  it  was 
unnecessary  for  Congress  to  release  the  soil.  If  the  United 
States  owned  the  soil  she  also  owned  the  jurisdiction,  and 
if  Connecticut  owned  the  jurisdiction  she,  or  those  to  whom 
she  had  released  it,  also  owned  the  soil.  The  Land  Com- 
pany's resolutions  speak  of  surrendering  the  jurisdiction  and 
of  the  establishment  of  government ;  the  quieting  act  pro- 
poses to  surrender  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  the  soil 
on  certain  terms  and  conditions,  one  of  which  is  the  sur- 
render of  jurisdiction.  Moreover,  Congress,  by  releasing  its 
right  and  title  to  Connecticut,  would,  by  implication,  deny 
that  either  New  York  or  Virginia  had  ceded  the  Reserve,  and 
so  deny  that  either  of  them  had  any  right  or  title  to  it  pre- 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE. 

vious  to  its  cession.  Furthermore,  since  New  York's  title  was 
later  than  Connecticut's,  this,  in  effect,  would  be  holding  that 
New  York's  whole  Western  claim,  from  the  Lakes  to  the 
Cumberland  Mountains,  had  been  baseless.  New  York  and 
Virginia  had  now  no  more  pecuniary  interest  in  the  question 
at  issue  than  any  other  States,  but  they  would  naturally  re- 
sent any  action  on  the  part  of  Congress  that  threatened  to 
invalidate  their  historical  position.  A  denial  of  New  York's 
claim  to  the  Western  Reserve  would  be  a  denial  of  her  claim 
to  all  the  Western  lands  whatsoever.  Moreover,  such  denial 
would  really  extend  as  far  east  as  the  Delaware  River,  for 
that  river  was  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  original  Western 
claims  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Such  denials  could 
indeed  no  longer  have  any  practical  bearing,  since  these  points 
of  controversy  had  been  adjusted,  but  it  would  still  be  a  re- 
flection upon  New  York's  original  title  that  her  representa- 
tives would  be  apt  to  repel.  Then  the  guarantee  of  the  Re- 
serve to  Connecticut  would  be  very  galling  to  Virginia;  for 
the  Old  Congress  had  stubbornly  refused. to  guarantee  her 
claims  southeast  of  the  Ohio  River.  And,  finally,  the  bill  was 
based  on  a  new  principle ;  hitherto  Congress  had  never,  in  a 
single  instance,  strengthened  the  Western  title  of  a  State 
growing  out  of  the  old  charters. 

Within  the  compass  of  the  foregoing  remarks,  no  doubt, 
the  objections  to  the  quieting  act  of  1800  lay.1 

1  The  quieting  act  had  been  anticipated.  On  the  day  that  Congress  accepted 
the  Connecticut  cession,  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  made  a  motion,  that  was 
lost,  declaring  that  Congress  could  not  accept  it,  since  to  do  so  would  be  a  ratifi- 
cation of  the  part  not  ceded  but  reserved,  and  closing  with  this  resolution,  which 
once  more  stirs  the  embers  of  old  controversies  : 

"Resolved,  .  .  .  that  when  the  State  of  Connecticut  shall  cede  and  re- 
lease to  the  United  States,  and  to  the  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
respectively,  all  the  claim  of  the  said  State  of  Connecticut  to  jurisdiction  and 
property  of  territory  westward  of  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  will  thereupon  grant,  release  and  con- 
firm to  the  State  of  Connecticut,  the  property,  but  not  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ter- 
ritory and  tract  or  land  described  as  follows  "  [then  describing  the  reservation], 

25 


386  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  the  opposition  to  this 
act  throws  light  upon  its  animus.  The  attacks  upon  the  bill 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  were  made  by  Bird,  Cooper, 
and  Elmendorf,  of  New  York;  and  by  John  Nicholas  and 
John  Randolph,  of  Virginia.  Of  New  York's  ten  votes  eight 
were  thrown  against  the  bill,  and  none  for  it.  Of  the  twelve 
Virginia  votes  the  bill  received  but  three.  Pennsylvania  gave 
ten  of  her  twelve  votes  for  the  bill,  and  none  against  it.  But 
Pennsylvania  had  never  been  a  claimant  State,  and  had  no 
State  dignity  to  uphold.  It  might,  perhaps,  be  expected  that 
Massachusetts  would  be  disinclined  to  see  the  seal  of  con- 
gressional approval  set  on  the  Connecticut  claim,  but  she  had 
never  claimed  the  Reserve,  or  any  part  of  it,  as  both  the 
other  States  had  done.  Many  of  her  people  were  seeking 
homes  on  the  Reserve,  some  members  of  the  Land  Company 
were  Massachusetts  men,  and  she  would  naturally  be  in- 
fluenced more  or  less  by  good  neighborhood.  Massachusetts 
gave  fourteen  votes  for  the  bill.  In  the  Senate,  not  a  vote 
for  the  measure  came  from  either  New  York  or  Virginia. 

Finally,  it  is  not  impossible  that  there  was  a  partisan 
animus  in  the  opposition  ;  Connecticut  was  strongly  Federalist 
in  politics,  while  most  of  the  opposition  belonged  to  the  Jef- 
fersonian  school. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  promptly  complied 
with  the  conditions  of  the  quieting  act.  It  passed  an  act  re- 
nouncing the  State's  claims  to  all  lands  lying  west  of  the 
boundary-line  between  Connecticut  and  New  York  as  agreed 
upon  in  1733,  except  the  Reserve,  both  soil  and  jurisdiction, 
and  authorizing  and  directing  the  Governor  of  the  State  to 
execute  and  deliver  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  a 
deed  conveying  to  the  United  States  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Reserve.  On  May  30,  1800,  Governor  Trumbull  performed 
this  duty,  and  soon  after  President  Adams  executed  and  de- 
livered letters  patent  releasing  all  the  right,  claim,  and  inter- 
est of  the  United  States  to  the  soil.  The  renunciation  of 
the  State's  claim  to  all  lands  west  of  the  line  of  1733,  except 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  387 

the  Reserve,  was  a  surrender  of  the  "  Gore  "  to  New  York, 
and  it  brought  to  a  sudden  end  the  suits  that  holders  of  the 
Ward  and  Halsey  titles  had  brought  in  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States  to  eject  the  occupants  with  New  York 
titles.  Such  was  the  solution  of  the  last  puzzle  growing  out 
of  the  from-sea-to-sea  charters. 

The  longer  one  looks  into  the  situation  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Land  Company  from  1797  to  1800  the  more  trying  he 
sees  it  to  have  been.  The  interest  was  running  on  their  obli- 
gations, but  they  could  not  effect  sales,  or  could  effect  but 
few.  Then,  when  the  subject  was  finally  brought  forward  in 
Congress,  there  was  abundant  opportunity  for  constitutional 
metaphysics  and  legal  hair-splitting.  Logically  inconsistent 
as  were  the  two  principles  of  the  quieting  act,  and  reversing 
as  that  act  did  the  policy  of  the  Old  Congress,  it  gave  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  the  Land  Company,  and  the  people  of 
the  Reserve,  a  happy  escape  from  difficulties  that  were  already 
serious,  and  that  threatened  grave  disaster.  The  act  is  a  good 
example  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  habit  of  disregarding  logical  re- 
finements and  legal  technicalities  and  of  pursuing  the  direct 
common-sense  road  to  a  just  end.  It  could  have  been  suc- 
cessfully defended  on  broad  grounds  of  public  policy.  The 
foremost  champion  of  the  act  was  John  Marshall ;  and  when 
we  recall  that  he  was  a  Virginian,  and  that  he  had  great  in- 
fluence in  the  House  of  Representatives,  particularly  on  legal 
questions,  it  does  not  seem  too  much  to  say  that  the  Western 
Reserve  is  indebted  to  him  for  the  institution  of  civil  govern- 
ment and  for  a  perfect  system  of  land-titles.  At  all  events, 
Marshall's  name  is  connected  with  its  history  in  an  interest- 
ing way. 

On  July  10,  1800,  Governor  St.  Clair  issued  a  proclama- 
tion constituting  the  whole  Reserve  a  county,  with  the  name 
of  Trumbull.  Rather,  he  bounded  the  county  on  the  north 
by  the  parallel  42°  2'  north  latitude,  which  was  carrying  it 
some  distance  beyond  the  international  boundary-line  and  in- 
vading the  British  dominions.  Next,  the  Governor  appointed 


388  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

a  probate  judge  and  justices  of  the  quorum  for  the  new  coun- 
ty. The  first  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  sat  at  Warren,  the 
county  seat,  on  the  fourth  Monday  of  August,  1800,  at  which 
time  the  county  was  organized.  The  first  election  was  held 
at  the  same  place  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October,  when 
the  electors  of  the  county,  by  thirty-eight  votes  out  of  forty- 
two,  chose  a  representative  in  the  Territorial  Legislature. 
Civil  government  on  the  Western  Reserve  was  at  last  estab- 
lished. The  first  act  in  the  long  series  leading  to  its  estab- 
lishment was  performed  at  Whitehall,  in  1662,  by  the  third 
Stuart ;  the  last  act,  at  Warren,  O.,  in  1800,  by  the  forty-two 
backwoods  electors. 

The  development  of  the  Western  Reserve  has  been  as 
gratifying  as  its  beginning  was  discouraging.  Its  area  is 
about  five  thousand  square  miles,  its  population  about  six 
hundred  thousand  souls.  It  is  a  trifle  larger  than  Connecti- 
cut, but  has  a  somewhat  smaller  population.1  No  other  five 
thousand  square  miles  of  territory  in  the  United  States,  lying 
in  a  body  outside  of  New  England,  ever  had,  to  begin  with, 
so  pure  a  New  England  population.  No  similar  territory 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  has  so  impressed  the  brain 
and  conscience  of  the  country.  No  other  district  gives  so  fine 
an  opportunity  to  study  the  development  of  the  New  Eng- 
land character  under  Western  conditions.  In  externals,  the 
colonists,  a  majority  of  whom  came  from  Connecticut,  repro- 
duced New  England  in  Northeastern  Ohio.  It  has  long  been 
remarked  that,  in  some  respects,  the  Western  Reserve  is 
more  New  England  than  New  England  herself.  Mr.  John 
Fiske  found  the  illustration  that  he  wanted  of  an  early  feat- 
ure of  English  life  in  Euclid  Avenue,  Cleveland.3  There  is 
also  an  undeniable  continuity  of  intellectual  and  moral  life. 
But  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  is  not  the  northern 


1  The  population  of  the  Reserve  in  1880  was  536,832  ;  of  Connecticut,  622, 70* 
8  American  Political  Ideas,  22. 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN    RESERVE.  389 

shore  of  Long  Island  Sound ;  New  Connecticut  is  not  a  re- 
production of  Old  Connecticut. 

The  position  of  Connecticut  in  history  is  a  most  honor- 
able one,  quite  disproportionate  to  her  territorial  area,  or  to  the 
numbers  of  her  population.  Far  should  it  be  from  a  man  of 
Connecticut  descent  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  commonwealth 
of  his  fathers.  But  the  Connecticut  of  1796  was  dominated 
by  class  influences  and  ideas ;  a  heavy  mass  of  political  and 
religious  dogma  rested  upon  society ;  an  inveterate  conserva- 
tism fettered  both  the  actions  and  the  thoughts  of  men.  The 
church  and  the  town  were  but  different  sides  of  the  same 
thing.  The  town  was  a  close  corporation  ;  and  the  man  who 
did  not  belong  to  it,  either  by  birth  or  formal  naturalization, 
could  be  a  resident  of  it  only  on  sufferance.  The  yearly  in- 
auguration of  the  governor  is  said  to  have  been  "  an  occasion 
of  solemn  import  and  unusual  magnificence."  Connecticut 
Federalism  was  the  most  ironclad  variety  anywhere  to  be 
found,  unless  in  Delaware.  In  1804  the  General  Court  im- 
peached several  justices  of  the  peace  who  had  the  temerity  to 
attend  a  Jeffersonian  convention  in  New  Haven.  Mechanics 
were  accounted  "  vulgar ;  "  farming  was  the  "  respectable  " 
calling ;  "  leading  men  "  had  an  extraordinary  influence  ;  and 
"old  families"  were  the  pride  and  the  weakness  of  their  re- 
spective localities.  The  militia  captain  and  the  deacon  were 
local  magnates.  Congregationalism  was  an  established  re- 
ligion ;  and  how  restive  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists,  the 
Sandemanians,  the  Methodists,  and  other  dissenting  churches, 
and  men  of  no  church,  were,  under  its  reign,  a  glance  through 
a  file  of  old  Connecticut  newspapers  will  show.  For  years 
the  General  Assembly  refused  to  charter  Episcopalian  and 
Methodist  colleges.  President  Quincy  paints  this  picture  of 
a  Sabbath  morning  in  Andover,  Mass. : 

"  The  whole  space  before  the  meeting  house  was  filled  with 
a  waiting,  respectful,  and  expecting  multitude.  At  the  mo- 
ment of  service,  the  pastor  issued  from  his  mansion,  with  Bible 


39°  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

and  manuscript  sermon  under  his  arm,  with  his  wife  leaning 
on  one  arm,  flanked  by  his  negro  man  on  his  side,  as  his  wife 
was  by  her  negro  woman,  the  little  negroes  being  distributed, 
according  to  their  sex,  by  the  side  of  their  respective  parents. 
Then  followed  every  other  member  of  the  family  according  to 
age  and  rank,  making  often,  with  family  visitants,  somewhat 
of  a  formidable  procession.  As  soon  as  it  appeared,  the  con- 
gregation, as  if  led  by  one  spirit,  began  to  move  towards  the 
door  of  the  church,  and  before  the  procession  reached  it  all 
were  in  their  places.  As  soon  as  the  pastor  entered,  the  whole 
congregation  rose  and  stood  until  he  was  in  the  pulpit  and  his 
family  were  seated.  At  the  close  of  the  service  the  congrega- 
tion stood  until  he  and  his  family  had  left  the  church.  Fore- 
noon and  afternoon  the  same  course  of  proceeding  was  had."  l 

Of  course,  such  magnificence  as  this  was  unusual ;  but  the 
passage  well  marks  the  awful  consequence  with  which  the 
New  England  mind,  in  that  period,  invested  the  parson.  All 
the  conservatism  of  Connecticut  rallied  around  the  venerable 
charter  of  1662,  holding  it  as  sacred  as  the  Trojans  ever  held 
the  Palladium  ;  and  the  party  which  broke  down  the  charter 
and  set  up  the  constitution  of  1818  were  called  "The  Tolera- 
tionists." 

It  is  plain  that  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  Connecti- 
cut had  shelled  over.  While  a  desire  to  break  through  this 
shell  was  the  motive  that  sent  many  a  man  and  family  to  the 
West,  the  whole  emigration  still  brought  much  of  the  old 
conservatism  and  dogma  to  Ohio.  But  these  people  had  not 
been  long  in  their  new  home  before  they  began  to  feel  the 
throbbings  of  a  new  life,  and  they  soon  began  to  do  things 
that  in  their  old  home  they  would  never  have  dreamed  of 
doing.  As  early  as  1832,  President  Storrs  and  his  assistants 
in  the  faculty  of  Western  Reserve  College  were  preaching 
and  lecturing  against  slavery,  at  Hudson.  Those  sermons 
and  lectures  were  the  real  beginning  of  anti-slavery  propa- 

1  North  American  Review,  No.  CCL.,  13,  14. 


THE   CONNECTICUT   WESTERN   RESERVE.  391 

gandism  in  Northern  Ohio.  How  much  the  anti-slavery 
men  of  the  East  counted  upon  Storrs's  co-operation  is  shown 
by  Whittier's  pathetic  elegy  written  on  Storrs's  too  early  death. 
Early  in  its  history,  the  name  of  Oberlin  became  synonymous 
with  Abolitionism  throughout  the  country.  Giddings  upheld 
anti-slavery  principles  in  Congress  when  there  was  none  but 
John  Quincy  Adams  to  support  him.  Full  fifty  years  ago 
the  Reserve  had  a  more  definite  anti-slavery  character  than 
any  other  equal  extent  of  territory  in  the  United  States.  A 
liberalizing  tendency  may  also  be  traced  in  religion.  The 
Calvinistic  rigidity  of  the  churches  was  softened.  The  new 
theology  sounded  out  from  Oberlin,  while  that  seat  of  learn- 
ing was  still  hidden  in  the  woods,  was  even  more  hateful  to 
New  England  orthodoxy  than  the  new  theology  sounded  out 
from  Andover  is  to-day.  Dissenting  bodies,  as  they  would 
have  been  in  Connecticut — Baptists,  Methodists,  and  Disciples 
— gained  a  foothold  and  multiplied  in  numbers.  And  the 
same  in  education.  Men  on  whom  the  awful  shadow  of  Yale 
and  Harvard  had  fallen,  begun  at  Oberlin  the  first  collegiate 
co-education  experiment  tried  in  the  world.  Both  at  Oberlin 
and  at  Hudson  the  finality  of  the  old  educational  rubrics  was 
denied,  and  new  studies  were  introduced  into  the  curricula. 
The  common  school,  the  academy,  the  college,  the  church, 
the  newspaper,  the  debating  society,  and  the  platform  stimu- 
lated the  mental  and  moral  life  of  the  people  to  the  utmost. 
The  Reserve  came  to  have  a  character  all  its  own.  Men 
with  "  new  ideas  "  hastened  to  it  as  to  a  seed-bed.  Men  with 
"  reforms  "  and  "  causes  "  to  advocate  found  a  willing  audi- 
ence. Later  years  have  brought  new  elements;  but  to-day 
the  mail  clerks  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  are  compelled  to 
quicken  their  motions  the  moment  they  enter  its  borders  from 
either  east  or  west.  Adapting  the  language  that  General  J. 
D.  Cox  once  used,  there  are  in  Northeastern  Ohio  the  straits 
in  a  great  moral  Gulf  Stream.  Between  Lake  Erie  and  the 
Ohio,  from  Pittsburg  to  Chicago,  has  been  compressed  a  hu- 
man tide  fed  by  the  overflow  of  New  England,  the  Middle 


392  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

States,  and  Europe.  Beyond  Lake  Michigan  this  stream 
widens  out,  fan-like,  northwest  and  southwest,  from  Mani- 
toba to  the  Arkansas  River ;  and  breaks  over  the  ridges  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  in  streams  that  reach  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Wherever  it  has  gone  this  stream  has  carried  the  thought- 
seeds  gathered  from  the  banks  of  the  straits  through  which 
it  rushes.1  But  the  Reserve  has  been  conservative  as  well 
as  radical.  Since  Elisha  Whittlesey  took  his  seat,  in  1828, 
the  Nineteenth  Ohio  Congressional  District  has  been  repre- 
sented in  Congress  by  but  five  men.  In  1872  the  greatest  of 
these  five  men,  in  addressing  the  convention  that  had  just 
nominated  him  for  the  sixth  time,  said  for  more  than  half  a 
century  the  people  of  the  district  had  held  and  expressed 
bold  and  independent  opinions  on  all  public  questions,  yet 
they  had  never  asked  their  representative  to  be  the  mere  echo 
of  the  party  voice.  They  supported  and  defended  their  rep- 
resentative in  maintaining  an  independent  position  in  the 
National  Legislature,  and  whenever  he  acted  with  honest  and 
intelligent  courage  in  the  interests  of  truth,  they  generously 
sustained  him  even  when  he  differed  from  them  in  minor 
matters  of  opinion  and  policy.*  The  old  charge  of  "  'isms  " 
and  "  extravagance  "  cannot  be  wholly  denied ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  the  plain  people,  while  throwing  much  of  the  New 
England  ballast  overboard,  and  crowding  their  canvas,  have 
held  the  rudder  so  true  as  to  avoid  dangerous  extremes.  The 
historian  finds  small  occasion  to  defend  them  on  the  ground 
that  somewhat  of  folly  and  fanaticism  always  attend  a  peo- 
ple's emancipation. 

1  The  Oberlin  Jubilee,  290,  291. 
*  Garfield  :  Works,  IL,  30,  31. 


XX. 

A  CENTURY  OF  PROGRESS. 

CHARLES  SUMNER  once  gathered,  in  a  celebrated  article, 
some  of  the  happier  prophecies  concerning  America.1  He 
might  have  made  a  similar  collection  of  the  less  happy  ones, 
that  would  have  been  quite  as  instructive  and  more  curious. 
Had  he  done  so,  he  might  have  come  upon  some  of  the  fol- 
lowing about  the  Great  West. 

Few  of  Dr.  Franklin's  contemporaries  had  his  grasp  of  the 
Western  question.  But  even  Franklin's  prescience  was  not 
equal  to  his  subject.  He  saw  that  east  of  the  Mississippi 
and  south  of  the  Lake  and  the  St.  Lawrence  there  was  room 
enough  for  a  hundred  millions  of  people;  "but  this  must 
take  some  centuries  to  fulfil."  When  the  question  of  fixing 
a  permanent  seat  of  government  was  under  discussion  in 
Congress,  in  1789,  much  was  said  of  the  centre  of  population. 
Mr.  Goodhue,  of  Massachusetts,  said  he  believed  this  centre 
"would  not  vary  considerably  for  ages  yet  to  come,  because 
he  supposed  it  would  constantly  increase  more  toward  the 
Eastern  and  manufacturing  States  than  toward  the  Southern 
and  agricultural  ones,"  not  taking  the  West  into  account  at 
all.  At  that  time  the  centre  of  population  was  twenty-five 
miles  east  of  Baltimore ;  and  little  did  the  men  who  took 
part  in  that  debate  dream  that  it  would  move  steadily  west- 
ward along  the  thirty-ninth  parallel  at  the  nearly  uniform 
rate  of  five  miles  a  year,  and  that,  in  a  century,  it  would  be 
much  nearer  the  Mississippi  River  than  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains. Fisher  Ames  said,  in  the  same  debate,  that  when  "the 

1  Prophetic  Voices  about  America,  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  XX.,  275. 


394  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

almost  immeasurable  wilderness  "  of  the  Ohio  would  be  set- 
tled, or  how  it  could  possibly  be  governed,  was  "  past  calcu- 
lation ; "  that  it  was  "  romantic  "  to  make  the  decision  of  the 
capital  question  turn  upon  that  circumstance;  and  that  it 
would  be  near  a  century  before  the  people  of  that  region 
would  be  considerable.  In  1825  Mr.  Dickerson,  of  New  Jer- 
sey, discussing  in  the  Senate  the  occupation  of  Oregon,  said 
the  territory  could  never  be  a  State  in  the  Union,  and  went 
into  an  elaborate  calculation  to  prove  the  physical  impossi- 
bility of  a  man's  representing  the  Valley  of  the  Columbia  in 
Congress,  since  he  would  be  the  whole  year,  travelling  at  the 
rate  of  thirty  miles  a  day,  making  the  overland  journey  to 
Washington  and  back ;  and  affirmed  that  it  would  be  more 
expeditious  to  double  Cape  Horn  or  to  pass  through  the 
Arctic  Ocean.  "  It  is  true,"  he  added,  "  this  passage  is  not  yet 
discovered,  except  upon  our  maps,  but  it  will  be  as  soon  as 
Oregon  shall  be  a  State."  If  any  man  had  a  large  conception 
of  the  West,  it  was  Henry  Clay,  yet  Mr.  Clay  said,  in  1832  : 
"  We  may  anticipate  that  long,  if  not  centuries,  after  the 
present  day,  the  representatives  of  our  children's  children 
may  be  deliberating  in  the  halls  of  Congress  on  laws  relating 
to  the  public  lands."  Even  men  who  have  lived  in  an  age 
of  wonders  often  think  that  wonders  will  cease  with  them. 
Defending  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  in  1846,  Daniel  Webster 
said  :  "  We  have  heard  a  vast  deal  lately  of  the  commercial 
value  of  the  River  Columbia  and  its  occupation ;  but  I  will  un- 
dertake to  say  that  for  all  purposes  of  human  use  the  St.  Johns 
is  worth  a  hundred  times  as  much  as  the  Columbia  is,  or  ever 
will  be."  We  wonder  at  such  feeble  prophecies ;  but,  although 
we  have  seen  the  progress  that  so  far  outran  the  highest  antic- 
ipations of  our  fathers — a  progress  each  decade  of  which  has 
been  a  new  morn  risen  on  high  noon — our  own  visions  of  the 
next  century  may  fall  as  far  short  of  the  reality.  The  possibil- 
ities of  the  United  States,  and  particularly  of  the  Great  West, 
under  a  free  and  stable  government,  in  an  age  of  stupendous  ma- 
terial development,  defied  the  forecast  of  the  wisest  statesmen. 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS. 


395 


TABLE  SHOWING  THE  POPULATION  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  STATES,  THE  PER 
CENT.  OF  INCREASE,  THEIR  RANK  AMONG  THE  STATES  OF  THE  UNION, 
AND  THE  NUMBER  OF  PEOPLE  TO  A  SQUARE  MILE,  FOR  THE  CENSUS 
YEARS  1800-1880. 


Ohio. 

Indi- 
ana. 

Illinois. 

Michi- 
gan. 

Wiscon- 
sin. 

Total  of 
five  States. 

Total, 
United 
States. 

i8oo. 
Population  

42,161 

2,517 

2,457 

3,757 

115 

5,308,483 

Rank  

18 

22 

1810. 

4,762 

Per  cent,  of  increase  

408.6 

339-6 

Rank  

21 

24 

25 

Number  per  square  mile  .  .  . 

5.7 

.7 

.2 

1820. 
Population  

581,295 

197,178 

8,765 
84 

842,400 

9,633,822 

Rank  

5 

18 

27 

N  umber  per  square  mile  .  .  . 

z 

.i 

1830. 
Population  

937,903 

343,031 

157,445 

31,630 

Per  cent,  of  increase  
Rank  

61.3 

"33 

185.4 

20 

260.9 
27 

Number  per  square  mile  .  .  . 

9.6 

2.8 

1840. 
Population  

685,866 

476,  183 

Per  cent,  of  increase  

62 

570.9 

Rank  

14 

23 

3° 

Number  per  square  mile.  .  . 

18.1 

8.5 

3.7 

.6 

1850. 
Population  

I,O8O,329 

988,416 

851,470 

397,654 

305,391 

4,523,260 

23,191,867 

Per  cent,  of  increase  

3O.3 

44.1 

78.8 

87.3 

886.8 

Rank  

Number  per  square  mile 

48.6 

15.2 

6.Q 

5.6 

1860. 
Population  

775,881 

6  926,884 

Per  cent,  of  increase  

18.1 

36.6 

88.3 

Rank    

6 

16 

Number  per  square  mile.  .  . 

57.4 

37.6 

13 

14.2 

1870. 
Population  

2,665,260 

1,680,637 

2,539,891 

1,184,059 

9,124,517 

38,588,371 

Per  cent,  of  increase  

48.3 

58 

Rank  

6 

Number  per  square  mile. 

653 

45.3 

1880. 
Population  
Per  cent,  of  increase  
Rank  

3,198,062 
19.9 

1,978,301 
17.7 
6 

3,077,871 

21.  1 

X>  3  3832 

34-7 
16 

11,206,668 

50,155,783 

Number  per  square  mile  .  .  . 

78.5 

55.1 

28.5 

1887.  « 
Population  

1  Fisher  :  The  Essentials  of  Geography  for  the  School  Year  1887-88. 


39^  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

North  America  is  the  marvel  of  human  progress  ;  the  old 
Northwest  the  marvel  of  North  America.  No  other  region 
of  equal  size  ever  made  such  progress  in  one  hundred  years. 
The  theme  requires  a  volume ;  nothing  more  can  here  be  done 
than  to  state  the  results  that  have  been  reached  in  some  prin- 
cipal lines  of  development.  Population  comes  first. 

One  of  the  interesting  features  of  this  table  is  the  great 
strides  with  which  Ohio  made  her  way  to  the  third  rank 
among  the  States  in  the  Union. 

The  population  of  the  five  States  in  1880  consisted  of 
5,758,244  males,  and  5,453,464  females.  Ohio  had  the  largest 
proportion  of  females,  98,152  to  100,000  males;  and  Michigan 
the  smallest,  89,821 — the  ratio  in  the  whole  country  being 
96,544  to  100,000.  The  native  population  was  9,290,038  ;  the 
foreign-born,  1,916,630.  The  foreign-born  to  100,000  natives 
were,  in  Ohio,  14,089;  Indiana,  7,860;  Illinois,  23,396;  Mich- 
igan, 31,119;  Wisconsin,  44,584.  The  ratio  in  the  United 
States  was  15,368  foreign-born  to  100,000  natives.  In  Mich- 
igan the  greater  number  of  the  foreign-born  were  British 
Americans,  of  whom  this  State  had  a  larger  proportion  than 
any  other  in  the  Union.  The  large  foreign  element  in  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin  is  principally  due  to  the  attraction  of  their  ag- 
ricultural advantages  for  German  and  Scandinavian  emigrants. 

The  census-maps  showing  in  five  degrees  of  density  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  population  of  the  United  States  at  the  census- 
years,  illustrates  in  a  striking  manner  what  has  been  said  in 
previous  chapters  concerning  Western  emigration  and  develop- 
ment, and  particularly  concerning  the  early  superior  advan- 
tages of  the  Ohio  Valley  as  compared  with  the  Lake  region. 
In  1790  the  island  of  color  lying  in  Southwestern  Pennsylva- 
nia extends  its  edge  across  the  Ohio  River  below  Pittsburg. 
Pin-points  of  color  appear  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum, 
on  the  Wabash,  and  in  the  Illinois.  In  1800  the  patches  of 
color  on  the  white  surface  have  increased  in  size,  and  some 
of  them  have  deepened.  Chillicothe,  Cincinnati,  Conneaut, 
Cleveland,  and  Detroit  appear.  In  1810  two-thirds  of  Ohio  is 


A  CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  397 

colored,  some  of  the  color  representing  a  population  of  from 
eighteen  to  forty-five  and  some  from  six  to  eighteen,  but  the 
larger  part  from  two  to  six  to  the  square  mile.  The  Vin- 
cennes  settlements  extend  to  the  Ohio  River,  and  a  belt  of 
population  appears  along  the  eastern  line  of  Indiana,  one- 
half  the  length  of  the  State.  The  Illinois  population  has  ex- 
tended over  a  larger  area,  both  up  and  down  the  river  and 
back  from  it.  A  stroke  of  color  extends  along  the  western 
side  of  the  Detroit  River,  and  specks  appear  at  Mackinaw,  at 
the  Saut,  at  Green  Bay,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin. 
In  1820  all  of  Ohio  but  the  northwestern  quarter,  the  southern 
third  of  Indiana,  the  southern  fourth  of  Illinois  are  settled 
more  or  less  densely.  A  line  of  light  color  curves  around  the 
head  of  Lake  Erie  from  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  to  the 
head  of  Lake  St.  Clair.  In  1830  a  white  patch,  of  consider- 
able size,  appears  in  Northwestern  Ohio.  The  northern  third 
of  Indiana  is  white,  with  a  colored  island  at  Fort  Wayne.  In 
Illinois  the  settlements  have  extended  north  from  the  Ohio 
and  east  from  the  Mississippi,  covering  about  one-half  the 
State.  A  red  spot  appears  in  the  Northwest,  in  the  region  of 
the  lead  mines,  and  crosses  the  boundary  into  Wisconsin.  The 
Detroit  settlements  have  grown  in  every  direction,  and  a  con- 
siderable population  has  appeared  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
Michigan,  extending  into  Northern  Indiana.  In  1840  not  a 
white  spot  is  left  in  Ohio.  Nearly  all  Indiana  and  Illinois 
are  colored.  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are  crossed  by  varying 
bands  of  color  as  high  as  the  latitude  of  Port  Huron  and 
Madison.  Beginnings  have  been  made  at  the  head  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  in  the  Valley  of  the  St.  Croix.  From  1840  to 
1850  the  northern  frontier  of  these  two  States  is  slightly 
crowded  back ;  the  density  of  the  old  population  increases  ; 
and  beginnings  are  made  in  the  great  lumber  and  mining  re- 
gions of  the  North,  particularly  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake 
Superior.  A  similar  description  will  apply  to  1860  and  to  1870. 
The  map  of  1880  shows  the  whole  of  the  Northwest  inhabited, 
except  a  small  interior  island  in  the  northern  part  of  the  lower 


398 


THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 


peninsula  of  Michigan,  about  one-half  of  the  upper  peninsula, 
and  a  large  tract  in  Northern  Wisconsin.  To  each  of  these 
two  States  is  assigned  an  unsettled  area  of  10,200  square  miles. 

The  census  of  1880  reported  an  urban  population  of 
2,689,081,  and  a  rural  population  of  8,516,880  souls;  the  first 
found  in  158  centres  of  4,000  people  and  upward.  The  per 
cents,  of  the  urban  to  the  total  population  ranged  from  seven- 
teen in  Indiana  to  twenty-eight  in  Ohio.  Eighteen  of  the 
one  hundred  principal  cities  of  the  Union  were  within  the 
five  States,  and  ten  more  upon  their  immediate  borders. 

In  1860  Mr.  Seward  called  Chicago  "the  last  and  most 
wonderful  of  all  the  marvellous  creations  of  civilization  in 
North  America."  What  would  he  say  of  Chicago  in  1887  ? 

TABLE   SHOWING  THE  NUMBER  OF  PEOPLE  EMPLOYED  IN  THE  DIFFERENT 
GAINFUL  OCCUPATIONS. 


Agriculture. 

Professional 
and  Personal 
Services. 

Trade  and 
Transporta- 
tion. 

Manufactures 
and  Mechani- 
cal and  Mining 
Industries. 

Total. 

Ohio  

397,495 

104,315 

Wisconsin  

86,510 

Total     

857  862 

Agriculture  leads  the  column  of  the  Northwestern  in- 
dustries. The  following  table  will  show  the  total  number  of 
farms  in  the  five  States,  their  aggregate  size,  their  value,  the 
value  of  farm-products,  the  value  of  live  stock,  the  value  of 
farms  per  acre,  and  the  per  cent,  of  the  States'  area  in  farms  : 


Number 
of 
Farms. 

Total  Acre- 
age in 
Farms. 

Per 

Cent,   of 
Area  in 
Farms. 

Value  of 
Farms. 

Value 
per 
Acre. 

Value  of 
Products. 

Value  of  Live 
Stock. 

Ohio  

247,189 

24,529,226 

94.0 

$1,127,497,353 

$46.37 

$156,  777,  ";2 

Indiana  
Illinois  
Michigan  ... 
Wisconsin..  . 

'94,°'3 
255.741 
154,008 
134.322 

20,420,983 
31,673,645 
1  3,807,240 
I5,353,"8 

88.9 
88.4 
37-6 
44-1 

635,236,111 
1,009,594,580 
499,103,181 
357,709.507 

31." 
3'  -S6 
36-  '5 
23-30 

114,707,082 
203,980,137 
91,159,858 
72,779>496 

71,068,785 
132,437,761 
55,720,113 
46,508,643 

Total  

985,273 

105,784,212 

$3,629,140,732 

$639,403,725 

$409,443,033 

A  CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS. 


399 


No  other  States  in  the  Union  have  so  large  per  cents,  of 
area  in  farms  as  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  Ohio  surpasses 
all  the  other  States  in  the  amount  of  capital  invested  in 
farms,  and  Illinois  all  others  in  farm-products  and  in  live 
stock. 

This  table  will  show  the  capital  invested  in  manufactures, 
the  value  of  manufactured  products,  the  aggregate  wealth  of 
the  States,  the  wealth  per  capita,  and  the  taxation  for  State 
purposes,  all  for  the  year  1880  : 


Capital  in- 
vested in 
Manufact- 
ures 

Value  of  Pro- 
ducts. 

Total  Wealth. 

Wealth  per 
Capita. 

Taxation. 

Ohio  

$188,939,614 

$436,  298,390 

§3,301,000.000 

$1,032  19 

$25,756,658 

Indiana  

65,742,962 

148,006,411 

1,499,000,000 

752  72 

12,343,630 

24.586,018 

836  93 

8,627,949 

636  60 

7,588,325 

Total  

$78,962,580 

On  no  line  of  progress  has  the  human  race  made  greater 
strides  than  in  means  of  travel  and  transportation ;  and  the 
whole  sweep  of  this  progress,  from  the  most  primitive  to  the 
most  improved  methods,  can  be  studied  in  the  history  of  the 
old  Northwest. 

The  men  who  first  entered  it  from  the  East  followed  the 
paths  that  the  deer  and  the  buffalo  had  made,  called  by  the 
hunters  "  streets  "  or  "  buffalo-roads."  Next  the  white  man 
followed  the  Indians'  trail,  which,  marked  and  widened  by 
the  axe,  became  the  "trace."  The  trader  who  followed  the 
waters  borrowed  of  the  Indian  his  canoe,  or  of  the  Frenchman 
his  bateau ;  the  trader  who  kept  to  the  land  introduced  the 
pack-saddle  and  the  train  of  pack-horses.  When  the  day 
came  to  move  passengers  in  numbers  and  freight  in  quantities, 
the  "keel-boat"  and  the  "ark"  appeared.  The  movement 
of  passengers  and  freight  was  mostly  westward,  owing  as 
well  to  the  current  of  the  streams  as  to  the  necessities  of 
emigration.  Boatmen  who  descended  to  New  Orleans  com- 


4oo 


THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 


monly  broke  up  their  craft  and  sold  them  for  lumber ;  those 
who  came  from  the  Upper  Ohio  returning  by  sea  to  Baltimore 
or  Alexandria  and  thence  over  the  mountains;  those  who  came 
from  below  the  Muskingum  marching  homeward  through  the 
wilderness  by  Natchez  and  Nashville  in  companies  of  fifteen 
or  twenty.  Then  came  steam-boats,  the  first  of  which  on  the 
Ohio  appeared  in  1811,  and  on  the  Northern  Lakes  in  1818. 
On  land  regular  roads  and  wheeled  vehicles  succeeded  the 
"  trace "  and  the  pack-saddle,  and  in  due  time  came  canals 
and  railroads.  In  1788  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler  did  twenty- 
nine  days  of  hard  travelling  in  reaching  Marietta  from  Ham- 
ilton, Mass.  We  read  that  "on  January  11,  1794,  a  line 
of  two  keel-boats,  with  bullet-proof  covers  and  port-holes, 
and  provided  with  cannon  and  small  arms,  was  established 
between  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburg,  each  making  a  trip  once  in 
four  weeks."  Mr.  Carnegie  tells  us  that  in  1884  the  trade  of 
the  same  river  was  valued  at  $800,000,000,  and  that  trans- 
portation upon  it  is  the  cheapest  in  the  world — coal,  coke,  and 
other  bulky  articles  being  transported  at  the  rate  of  one- 
twentieth  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile.1  The  colossal  propor- 
tions to  which  land  travel  and  transportation  have  grown  are 
shown  by  the  following  statistics  of  railroads  in  1886  : 


Ohio. 

Indiana. 

Illinois. 

Michigan. 

Wisconsin. 

Total. 

Miles  of  railroad 
Engines  and  cars 
Capital  stock  .  .  . 
Cost  

9,246 
99,087 
$386,440,877 

5,641 
39.9o8 
$147,652,448 
$278,883,884 

14,708 
89,169 
$332,725.395 

5,201 

26,480 
$95,9i6,5i8 
$203,826,163 

7,084 
28,416 
$92,162,661 
$240,142,885 

41,880 
283,060 
$1,054,897,889 

Bonded  debt  .  .  . 
Passengers  car- 

$338,010,901 

$167,045,609 

$330.737,889 

$95,300,654 
8  116  614 

$147,500,000 

1,078,655,062 

Tons  of  freight 

Gross  earnings.. 

$71,196,610 

$33,547.289 

$97,685,889 

$27,114,912 

$28,174,270 

$257,718,913 

The  canal  around  the  Saut  Rapids,  at  the  foot  of  which 
St.  Lusson  stood  in  1671  when  he  took  possession  of  the 
Northwestern  lakes  and  rivers,  islands  and  countries,  in  the 


1  Triumphant  Democracy,  309. 


A  CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  40 1 

name  of  the  Redoubtable  Monarch  Louis  XIV.,  of  France, 
has  become  one  of  the  great  commercial  thoroughfares  of  the 
world.  In  1886,  7,428  passages  of  vessels  of  all  descriptions 
were  made  through  this  canal,  conveying  4,527,759  tons  of 
freight.  In  the  table  of  this  commerce  we  find  such  items  as 
these:  1,009,999  tons  of  coal;  1,759,365  barrels  of  flour; 
18,991,485  bushels  of  wheat ;  38,627  tons  of  copper  ;  2,087,809 
tons  of  iron  ore;  138,688,000  feet  of  lumber.  This  tonnage, 
which  already  surpasses  that  of  the  Suez  Canal  for  the  num- 
ber of  days  per  year  that  the  two  are  open  to  navigation,  in 
connection  with  the  undeveloped  capabilities  of  the  country 
beyond  Lake  Superior,  stretching  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  mocks 
one's  power  to  predict  the  extent  and  value  of  the  future 
commerce  of  this  artificial  water-way.  Nor  is  this  all.  When 
the  Cascade  Mountains  have  been  tunnelled,  New  York,  by 
this  Northwestern  route,  will  be  brought  within  ten  thousand 
five  hundred  miles  of  Canton,  China,  which  is  only  one-half 
the  distance,  by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  or  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope ;  while  the  English  and  Dutch  commercial  cities  are 
distant  not  less  than  eighteen  thousand  miles. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  declared  :  "  Religion,  morality,  and 
knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
shall  forever  be  encouraged."  The  moral  significance  of 
statistics  is  commonly  lost ;  nevertheless,  some  figures  will 
help  us  to  understand  how  Congress  and  the  Northwest  have 
kept  this  educational  compact. 

The  Land  Ordinance  of  1785  provided  that,  wherever  it 
operated,  "  there  shall  be  reserved  from  sale  the  lot  No.  16  of 
every  township  for  the  maintenance  of  common  schools  within 
the  said  township."  From  that  day  the  policy  of  setting 
apart  for  this  purpose  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  land  in 
every  new  State  has  been  uniformly  followed.  Besides, 
other  large  grants  have  been  made,  from  time  to  time,  for  ed- 
ucational purposes.  These  educational  land-grants  would  be 
a  very  prominent  feature  of  any  adequate  history  of  education 
26 


402  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

in  the  Northwest.  Here  attention  can  be  drawn  to  only  two 
or  three  points. 

The  total  amount  of  the  grants  under  the  Ordinance  of 
1785  is  4,865,917,  of  which  4,293,989  acres  were  sold  previous 
to  1884.  In  addition  to  these  grants,  one-half  of  the  five  per 
cent,  of  the  sales  of  public  lands  in  Illinois,  that  the  State  was 
entitled  to  in  accordance  with  the  policy  inaugurated  in  1802 
of  giving  the  State  five  per  cent,  of  such  sales  for  some  pur- 
pose, was  devoted  to  schools,  and  in  Wisconsin  the  whole  of 
it  was  so  devoted.  In  1884  the  aggregate  school  funds  of  the 
five  States  arising  from  these  two  sources,  principal  and  capi- 
talized interest,  was  $16,418,477,  which  yielded  a  yearly  in- 
come of  $1,406,801. 

The  five  States  received  from  the  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical College  grant  of  1863,  1,980,000  acres  of  land  and 
land-scrip.  In  1884  the  present  funds,  resulting  from  the  sale 
of  1,800,862  acres  of  these  lands,  was  $1,864,514,  which  pro- 
duced a  yearly  income  of  $108,172. 

Previous  to  the  same  year,  the  National  Government  had 
patented  to  the  five  States,  under  the  legislation  of  Congress, 
11,461,000  acres  of  swamp  lands,  of  which  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois  appropriated  the  whole,  and  Michigan  and  Wisconsin 
fifty  per  cent,  to  education.  The  appropriations  have  pro- 
duced educational  funds  amounting  to  $2,541,1 15. 

Ninety-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  acres 
of  saline  lands  dedicated  to  education  have  produced  $327,986. 

The  University  lands,  amounting  to  345,716  acres,  yielding 
a  total  fund  of  $1,136,245  and  an  annual  income  of  $78,801, 
closes  the  list  of  educational  land-grants  in  the  old  Northwest. 

Here  are  educational  endowments  amounting  to  more 
than  twenty  million  acres  of  lands.1  The  practical  manage- 
ment of  these  enormous  endowments  by  the  States  has  been 
marked  by  short-sightedness  and  wastefulness  fully  propor- 

1  These  statistics  are  given  on  the  authority  of  Prof.  George  W.  Knight :  His- 
tory and  Management  of  Land  Grants  for  Education  in  the  Northwest  Territory, 
170-172. 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS. 


403 


tional  to  the  liberality  of  Congress  in  making  them.  The  an- 
nual funds  arising  from  these  endowments  are  but  a  small  per 
cent,  of  the  vast  sums  that  the  Northwestern  people  raise  by 
taxation  for  educational  purposes  ;  but  they  have  still  served 
a  noble  educational  purpose  in  the  past,  and  will  be  of  consid- 
erable value  in  years  to  come. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  more  important  public- 
school  statistics  for  the  school-year  1884-85  : 


Ohio. 

Indiana. 

Illinois. 

Michigan. 

Wiscon'n. 

Total. 

Number  of  school-youth.  .  . 

1,095,469 

722,851 

1,077,302 

595,687 

544,976 

4,036,285 

Number  enrolled  in  schools 

774,660 

501,142 

738,787 

4"*954 

321,718 

3,748,261 

Public-school  houses  

12,674 

9,664 

12,076 

7,164 

6,033 

47,61  x 

Number  of  teachers  

24,628 

i3.3« 

20,619 

15,358 

10,866 

84,783 

Expenditures    for    Public 

$3,300,000 

$32,982,000 

Value    of     public  -  school 

$11,267,000 

$6,132,000 

$81,328,000 

School  Fund  

$4,646,000 

$30,808,000 

From  the  report  of  the  National  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion for  the  same  year  these  items  concerning  superior  instruc- 
tion have  been  gathered : 


Colleges  and  universities  reporting  

90 

880 

8,594 

$9*588,000 

The  number  of  newspapers  and  periodicals  published  in 
the  five  States  the  year  of  the  last  census,  with  the  aggregate 
circulation  per  issue,  was  as  follows  : 


Newspapers  and 
Periodicals. 

Circulation. 

Ohio  

467 

464 

Total  

404  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  school-master  has  been  abroad  in  the  Northwest  since 
1788 ;  but  that  he  still  has  plenty  of  work  to  do  is  shown  by 
this  exhibit  of  the  number  of  persons  in  1880,  ten  years  of  age 
or  more,  unable  to  write  : 


Ohio  

Illinois  .         

55>558 

Total  

507,286 

The  educational  influence  and  results  of  opening  the  ter- 
ritory northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  to  civilization  may  be 
treated  in  a  narrower  and  in  a  broader  way.  The  narrow- 
er treatment  would  embrace  school-lands,  school-laws,  and 
school-systems,  with  all  that  these  imply ;  the  broader  treat- 
ment would  deal  with  the  general  forces  and  conditions  that 
have  wrought  out  the  peculiar  character  of  the  Northwestern 
people,  and,  through  them,  have  acted  upon  the  national  life. 
But  no  better  example  of  the  broadening  and  liberalizing  in- 
fluence of  the  Northwest  can  be  given  than  that  furnished  by 
the  history  of  education  in  the  specific  sense.  Here,  as  else- 
where, it  has  much  crudeness  and  shallowness  to  answer  for. 
The  "fresh-water  college"  and  the  American  "university" 
have  had  a  rank  growth.  Perhaps,  too,  the  Northwest  has 
not  always  looked  with  sufficient  reverence  upon  the  old  ed- 
ucational rubrics.  But  if  she  had  not  been  free  from  an  undue 
conservatism,  she  would  never  have  done  what  she  has  for 
education,  either  directly  at  home  or  by  reaction  upon  the 
East.  The  best  contributions  of  the  five  States  to  educational 
progress  are  these :  The  flexibility  of  their  educational  sys- 
tems, and  their  adaptation  to  existing  conditions ;  the  extent 
to  which  they  have  carried  the  public-school  superintendency ; 
the  prominence  that  they  have  accorded  to  the  State  Univer- 
sity ;  the  range  and  scope  that  they  have  given  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  election  in  higher  education  ;  the  measurable  adjust- 
ment of  the  high  school  to  the  college ;  the  readiness  with 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  405 

which  the  coeducation  of  the  sexes  has  been  taken  up  and  de- 
veloped ;  and  the  faith,  energy,  and  enthusiasm  of  teachers. 
We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  what  the  East  has  done  for 
the  West,  as  respects  education  and  other  matters ;  the  time 
has  come  for  drawing  attention  to  what  the  West  has  done  for 
the  East.  Particular  attention  may  be  drawn  to  the  coeduca- 
tion of  the  sexes.  In  the  five  States  are  95  institutions  that 
rank  as  colleges  ;  68  of  these  admit  women  to  their  halls.  Of 
the  27  non-coeducational  colleges,  21  are  Protestant  and  6 
Roman  Catholic.  In  this  respect  the  new  Northwest  follows 
the  example  of  the  old  Northwest.  Forty-one  coeducation 
and  17  non-coeducation  colleges  are  found  in  the  States  of  Min- 
nesota, Iowa,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  California,  and 
Oregon.  Besides,  the  largest,  the  most  flourishing,  and  the 
most  influential  colleges  throw  open  their  doors  to  men  and 
to  women  on  equal  terms. 

The  influence  of  the  country  beyond  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains on  the  population  that  occupies  it,  its  reaction  on  the 
Atlantic  Plain,  and  its  effect  on  the  national  life,  character,  and 
government  are  themes  demanding  fuller  investigation  than 
they  have  ever  received.  Here  originated  many  of  the  crude 
theories  and  vicious  arts  that  blot  our  history  and  disfigure 
our  civilization.  The  West  perfected,  if  she  did  not  invent, 
"  wild-cat "  banking  ;  she  crowned  the  "  spoils  system  "  king 
of  politics  ;  she  brought  forth  "  manifest  destiny  ;  "  she  fur- 
nished the  forces  and  the  conditions  that  have  produced  Mor- 
monism.  Mr.  Levermore  says  a  full  revelation  of  the  con- 
nection between  the  growth  of  a  State  banking  system  in  the 
West  and  sundry  prevalent  financial  doctrines  about  the  pow- 
ers of  Congress  is  essential  to  a  satisfactory  constitutional 
history  of  the  United  States  ; '  and  Professor  W.  G.  Sumner 
points  out  with  great  clearness  the  vast  influence  on  national 
politics  of  certain  Western  financial  views  in  the  old  day  of 
the  United  States  Bank.*  What  a  change  had  taken  place 

1  The  Republic  of  New  Haven,  Introduction. 

*  Andrew  Jackson,  in  Statesmen  Series  119  et  seq. 


406  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

in  the  country  when  General  Jackson,  the  first  Western  Presi- 
dent, ascended  the  President's  chair  in  1829.  That  the  Amer- 
ican system  was  not  shattered  to  pieces  by  the  admission  to 
it  of  the  West,  before  1840,  is  proof  of  its  elasticity  and  power 
second  only  to  the  Civil  War.  But  the  West  has  also  con- 
tributed incomparably  valuable  elements  to  American  civili- 
zation. Mention  may  be  made  of  her  all-abounding  vitality, 
her  inexhaustible  spirits,  her  unconquerable  courage,  her 
largeness  of  views,  her  freedom  from  tradition,  her  power  of 
initiative,  her  unfailing  faith  in  the  Republic,  and  her  confi- 
dence in  her  own  destiny.  As  a  group,  these  topics  cannot 
be  here  considered  ;  but  this  work  may  fitly  close  with  a 
rapid  view  of  the  trend  of  political  thought  in  the  old  North- 
west. 

There  are  two  colonial  periods  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States.  The  first  saw  the  English  colonies  established  on  the 
Atlantic  slope  between  the  Kennebec  and  Savannah  Rivers ; 
the  second  saw  the  American  colonies  in  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. The  first  planting  was  mainly  the  work  of  the  seven- 
teenth century ;  the  second  began  before  the  Revolutionary 
War,  but  its  success  was  not  assured  until  at  Paris,  in  1782, 
the  American  Commissioners  thwarted  the  purpose  of  the 
three  powers  to  shut  us  up  between  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
and  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  secured  the  Mississippi  River  as 
our  western  boundary.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
immediate  effect  of  the  first  planting  on  the  Englishman  was 
small,  compared  with  the  immediate  effect  of  the  second  on 
the  American.  For  example,  in  the  period  that  lies  before 
the  Revolution  constitutional  monarchy  was  developed  into 
conservative  republicanism,  while  in  the  period  since  the 
Revolution  conservative  republicanism  has  been  developed 
into  democracy.  How  thoroughly  English  the  fathers  of  the 
Revolution  were,  in  political  ideas  and  temper,  is  conclusively 
shown  by  all  their  constructive  political  work,  including  the 
Ordinance  of  1787. 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  4<V 

In  some  respects  this  is  the  most  interesting  document 
that  the  Revolutionary  era  produced.  All  the  constitutions  of 
that  era,  and  particularly  the  National  Constitution,  were 
largely  the  result  of  compromise  ;  but  the  framers  of  the  Ordi- 
nance legislated  for  the  wilderness,  and  so  were  not  compelled 
to  consult  facts  accomplished;  they  were  free  to  put  into  their 
work  their  best  ideas  of  what  a  charter  of  free  government 
should  be.  And  no  man  can  read  the  Ordinance  without  see- 
ing that  the  men  who  drafted  it  shrank  from  conclusions  that 
are  commonly  accepted  now  ;  witness,  for  example,  the  provi- 
sions relating  to  the  qualifications  of  the  governor,  the  repre- 
sentative, and  especially  the  elector.  But  these  rules  express 
the  average  republicanism  of  1787.  Similar  rules  are  found  in 
many  of  the  State  constitutions,  and  they  stand  as  landmarks 
from  which  we  may  measure  how  far  the  American  people  have 
marched  on  the  democratic  road  in  a  century.  In  fact,  the  in- 
terval between  the  constitutional  monarchy  of  1690  and  the 
federal  republicanism  of  1790  is  less  than  the  interval  between 
the  federal  republicanism  of  1787  and  the  democracy  of  1887. 
The  progress  of  democratic  ideas  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
study  of  constitutional  provisions  relating  to  the  suffrage,  to 
the  powers  assigned  to  the  legislative  and  executive  branches 
of  government,  to  the  appointment  and  tenure  of  the  judges, 
and  to  the  length  of  official  terms. 

In  1787  most  of  the  States  conditioned  the  elective  fran- 
chise upon  a  property  qualification.  Notwithstanding  the 
sore  experience  of  the  colonies  with  the  veto  power,  as 
wielded  by  the  colonial  governors  and  the  Crown,  the  States 
still  left  that  important  power  in  the  hands  of  their  governors. 
In  twelve  of  the  States  the  judges  held  office  during  good  be- 
havior, and  in  all  of  them  they  were  appointed — in  one  by 
the  governor  alone,  in  one  by  the  council  alone,  in  five  by  the 
legislature,  and  in  the  others  by  the  governor  by  and  with  the 
consent  of  a  confirming  body.1  These  are  the  facts  commonly 

1  Hitchcock  :  American  State  Constitutions,  48. 


408  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

referred  to  by  the  Jeffersonian  politicians  when,  a  few  years 
later,  they  denounce  the  "  monarchical  "  ideas  and  tendencies 
of  the  Federalists. 

The  Constitutions  of  Kentucky,  1792,  and  Tennessee,  1796, 
mark  a  distinct  advance  of  democratical  opinions.  The  first 
one  gave  the  suffrage  to  all  free  male  citizens  twenty-one  years 
of  age  having  a  two  years  residence  in  the  State ;  the  second, 
to  every  freeman  of  the  same  age  having  a  six  months  resi- 
dence. The  first  imposed  no  property  qualification  upon  of- 
fice-holders ;  the  second  required  that  members  of  the  as- 
sembly should  own  freeholds  of  two  hundred  acres  each,  and 
the  governor  a  freehold  of  five  hundred  acres.  The  Ken- 
tucky judges  were  appointed  by  the  governor,  to  hold  office 
during  good  behavior;  the  Tennessee  judges,  by  the  legislat- 
ure, for  seven  years.  In  Kentucky  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  were  chosen  annually  by  the  qualified 
electors ;  the  senators  and  governor  every  four  years,  by 
electors  chosen  by  the  people ;  the  senators  to  be  "  men  of 
the  most  wisdom,  experience,  and  virtue  above  twenty-seven 
years  of  age."  In  Tennessee  the  same  officers  were  chosen 
every  two  years  at  the  popular  elections.  The  Governor  of 
Kentucky  was  clothed  with  the  veto  power,  but  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee  was  not  so  clothed.  Neither  of  these 
constitutions  was  submitted  to  the  people  for  their  approval. 

Mr.  Jefferson  pronounced  the  Constitution  of  Tennessee 
"  the  most  republican  yet  framed  in  America."  He  must 
have  been  equally  well  satisfied  with  that  of  Ohio.  This 
constitution  permitted  all  white  male  inhabitants,  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  who  had  resided  in  the  State  one  year  preced- 
ing, and  who  also  paid  or  were  charged  with  a  State  or 
county  tax,  to  vote  at  all  elections.  No  property  qualification 
was  required  of  officers.  The  judges  were  chosen  by  the  leg- 
islature on  joint  ballot  of  the  two  houses,  "  to  hold  their  offices 
for  the  term  of  seven  years  if  so  long  they  behaved  well." 
The  secretary  of  state,  the  auditor,  and  treasurer,  as  well  as 
the  superior  militia  officers,  were  also  appointed  by  the  as- 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  4O9 

sembly.  The  governor  had  no  veto,  but  he  might  tempora- 
rily fill  vacancies  in  the  offices,  regularly  filled  by  the  legislat- 
ure, occurring  in  the  recesses  of  that  body.  Members  of  the 
legislature  and  the  governor  were  elected  for  two  years  by 
the  people.  The  common  explanation  of  the  extreme  limita- 
tion of  the  executive  power  and  of  the  unusual  powers  given 
to  the  General  Assembly  is  found  in  the  frequent  collisions 
that  occurred  between  Governor  St.  Clair  and  the  Territorial 
Legislature.  This  was  no  doubt  one  cause  of  the  limitation  ; 
but  it  is  probable  that  the  Jeffersonian  theory  of  government 
was  a  more  potent  cause.1  The  Chief  Magistrate  of  Ohio  has 
always  been  an  officer  of  dignity  rather  than  of  power. 

The  Constitution  of  Ohio  was  not  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple. A  resolution  making  provision  for  such  submission  was 
lost  by  a  decided  vote — ayes,  7  ;  nays,  27.  Sometimes  this 
refusal  has  been  ascribed  to  the  supposed  fear  of  the  leaders 
of  the  convention  that  the  people  would  not  approve  the  con- 
stitution that  had  been  framed,  and  sometimes  to  an  undue 
anxiety  to  get  the  new  government  in  motion.  At  that  time, 
however,  the  practice  of  submitting  constitutions  to  the  peo- 
ple for  their  approval  had  not  become  thoroughly  established. 
The  Federalists  of  the  State  thought  the  failure  to  submit  a 
serious  grievance ;  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  the  State  was 
brought  into  the  Union  in  a  manner  little  in  accord  with 
those  democratical  principles  which  the  State  party  so  loudly 
proclaimed. 

The  Constitutions  of  Indiana,  1816;  of  Michigan,  1837; 
and  of  Wisconsin,  1848,  conferred  the  suffrage  upon  white 

1  This  is  Mr.  J.  C.  Hamilton's  explanation.  Commenting  upon  the  great 
political  change  that  occurred  in  1800,  he  says  :  "  The  Constitution  of  Ohio 
shows  the  democratical  opinions  prevalent  on  the  Western  frontier.  It  reduced 
the  executive  power  almost  to  a  nonentity,  elevating  and  enlarging  that  of  the  leg- 
islature, giving  to  it  the  election  of  the  judges  to  hold  office  for  a  short  term  of 
years,  thus  destroying  their  independence,  and  that  of  all  the  other  officers,  with 
the  exception  of  sheriffs  and  coroners,  who,  with  the  governor,  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  suffrages  of  all  the  people,  residents  for  a  year,  and  who  had  been  charged 
with  a  tax." — Life  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  VIL,  602. 


410  THE   OLD    NORTHWEST. 

male  citizens,  twenty-one  years  of  age,  having  a  short  residence 
in  the  State;  that  of  Illinois,  1818,  upon  all  white  male  in- 
habitants similarly  qualified.  No  property-qualification  was 
imposed  upon  office-holders  in  any  one  of  them.  Michigan 
and  Wisconsin  gave  their  governors  the  veto ;  Indiana  and 
Illinois  did  not ;  Indiana  and  Michigan  made  the  judges'  ten- 
ure seven  years  ;  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  made  it  good  behav- 
ior. In  Indiana  the  superior  judges  were  appointed  by  the 
governor,  with  the  Senate's  approval,  the  inferior  ones  by  the 
legislature ;  in  Michigan,  the  superior  judges  were  appointed 
as  in  Indiana,  but  the  inferior  ones  were  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple. In  Illinois  all  judges  were  appointed  by  the  governor, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Senate.  By  1848  the  tide  in  favor 
of  an  elective  judiciary  had  attained  its  full  volume,  and  we 
are  not  surprised  to  find,  therefore,  the  Constitution  of  Wis- 
consin providing  that  all  judges  should  be  chosen  by  the 
qualified  electors  of  their  several  circuits  or  counties.  In 
Indiana  the  governor's  term  was  made  three  years;  in  Illinois, 
four ;  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  two.  The  Constitutions  of 
the  first  two  States  were  not  submitted  to  the  people ;  those 
of  the  last  two  were  submitted. 

Another  gauge  of  the  trend  of  political  opinion  in  the 
Northwest  is  furnished  by  the  history  of  political  parties. 

The  overthrow  of  the  Federal  party  and  the  admission  of 
Ohio  to  the  Union  came  practically  at  the  same  time.  But 
even  if  the  Federalists  could  have  maintained  themselves  in 
the  old  States,  there  is  not  the  smallest  probability  that  they 
could  have  imposed  their  ideas  upon  a  single  one  of  the 
Northwestern  States.  Three  things  that  run  into  one  an- 
other, and  are  yet  separable,  are  contemporaneous  with  the 
colonization  of  the  Northwest :  The  establishment  of  the 
American  Republic,  the  increased  energy  of  the  democratiz- 
ing movement  considered  as  a  tone  of  thought  or  stream  of 
tendency,  and  the  organization  of  the  Democratic-Republican 
party.  These  causes,  together  with  the  powerful  democratical 
stimulus  of  backwoods  life,  were  more  than  sufficient  to  es- 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  41 1 

tablish  the  party  of  Jefferson  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois.  The  people  of  these  States  favored  the  acquisi- 
tion of  Louisiana  and  the  War  of  1812,  and  were  opposed  to 
a  national  bank.  Ohio  was  so  strongly  Democratic,  and  the 
legislature  was  so  all-powerful,  that  in  1810  some  of  the  judges 
who  had  declared  State  laws  unconstitutional  were  impeached, 
and  in  1820  an  attempt  was  made  to  nullify  the  law  charter- 
ing the  United  States  Bank.  Ohio  voted  for  all  the  Demo- 
cratic-Republican Presidents  :  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Mon- 
roe. Clay  received  the  electoral  vote  in  1824,  but  Adams 
received  the  State's  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
From  this  time  on  Mr.  Clay  had  a  numerous  and  ardent  fol- 
lowing in  the  State.  This  was  due  partly  to  growing  inter- 
est in  a  protective  tariff  and  in  internal  improvements,  partly 
to  Mr.  Clay's  political  history  and  personal  character,  and 
partly  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Western  man.  General  Jack- 
son carried  the  State  in  1828  and  in  1832  ;  Harrison,  in  1836 
and  1840;  Clay,  in  1844;  Cass,  in  1848;  and  Pierce,  in  1852. 
From  1828  to  1856  the  governors  were  about  equally  divided 
between  the  two  parties.  In  Indiana  the  Democratic-Repub- 
lican and  Democratic  parties  elected  the  presidential  electors 
from  i8:6to  1860,  save  in  1836  and  1840,  when  the  Whigs  car- 
ried the  State.  Illinois  gave  her  electoral  votes  to  the  same 
parties  down  to  1860,  but  her  vote  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  cast  for  Adams  in  1824.  Michigan's  electoral 
vote  was  cast  for  Van  Buren  in  1836,  but  was  not  counted; 
for  Harrison  in  1840,  and  for  the  Democratic  candidates  in 
1844,  in  1848,  and  in  1852. 

In  1848  the  five  States  all  voted  for  General  Cass,  giving 
him  an  aggregate  plurality  over  Taylor  of  37,707;  in  1852 
they  all  voted  for  General  Pierce,  giving  him  an  aggregate 
plurality  over  Scott  of  66,216.  The  Democratic  pluralities 
had  much  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  popula- 
tion. The  national  Democratic  party  felt  proud  and  confi- 
dent in  the  strength  of  its  position  in  1852;  but  political  in- 
sight could  then  discern,  what  history  soon  proved  to  be  the 


412  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

fact,  that  only  an  occasion  was  wanting  to  effect  a  combina- 
tion of  elements  that  would  drive  that  party  from  power.  A 
large  majority  of  Northern  Whigs  were  at  heart  opposed  to 
the  further  extension  of  slavery.  The  Democratic  party  in 
the  North  also  contained  a  large  anti-slavery  element.  Then 
there  was  the  Liberty  party,  or  Free-soilers,  who  gave  Birney 
62,300  votes  in  1844;  Van  Buren,  291,263  in  1848  ;  and  Hale, 
155,825  in  1852.  In  the  Northwest  Birney's  vote  was  17,358  ; 
Van  Buren's,  80,035  ;  and  Hale's,  64,619.  Nor  did  the  falling 
off  in  the  Free-soil  vote  from  1848  to  1852  indicate  a  decline 
of  the  party  strength  ;  a  large  part  of  Van  Buren's  vote  rep- 
resented Democratic  disaffection  rather  than  anti-slavery  prin- 
ciple. Obviously,  here  were  the  elements  of  a  formidable 
new  political  party,  if  they  could  be  united. 

Their  overwhelming  defeat  in  1852  convinced  Northern 
Whigs  that  the  usefulness  of  the  Whig  organization  was  a 
thing  of  the  past.  Their  great  victory  of  the  same  year  made 
the  Democrats  more  blind  and  confident  than  ever;  and  two 
years  later  they  repealed  the  Missouri  Compromise,  thereby 
reopening  the  question  of  slavery  north  of  36°  30'  beyond 
the  State  of  Missouri.  This  act  brought  the  anti-slavery  ele- 
ments of  the  North  together  in  a  new  political  organization 
with  a  rapidity  and  success  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the 
country. 

An  anti-Nebraska  convention  held  in  Michigan  in  June, 
1854,  baptized  the  new  party  Republican.  In  Wisconsin  the 
new  party  was  organized  with  equal  promptness.  Since  that 
time  neither  one  of  these  States  has  ever  failed  to  elect  Re- 
publican presidential  electors.  Michigan  gave  Fremont  71,762 
votes;  Buchanan,  52,136;  Wisconsin  gave  them  66,090  and 
52,843,  respectively.  However,  the  great  change  of  the  vote 
from  1852  in  both  of  these  States  was  not  wholly  due  to  change 
of  opinion,  but  partly  to  emigration.  The  Republicans  of 
Ohio  elected  Mr.  Chase  governor  in  1855,  and  since  that  year 
they  have  never  failed  to  return  a  Republican  electoral  college. 
Fre'mont  received  187,497  votes;  Buchanan,  170,874.  In 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  413 

Indiana  and  Illinois  the  elements  that  coalesced  in  the  Re- 
publican party  were  weaker  than  in  the  other  Northwestern 
States.  The  old  national  pike  has  been  aptly  called  "  a  sort 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line, "  since  it  formerly  separated  the 
Republican  counties  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  from  the 
Democratic  counties.  South  of  this  line  the  two  States  were 
fully  settled  in  1850;  north  of  it  there  were  still  unsettled 
tracts  of  territory.  Population  was  also  more  dense  South 
than  North.  Besides,  the  Southern-born  population  of  Indi- 
ana was  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population ;  the  South- 
ern-born population  of  Illinois  sixteen  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
The  two  States,  respectively,  gave  Buchanan  118,670  and 
105,348  votes,  and  Fremont  94,375  and  96,189  votes.  In 
the  years  following  1856  the  Republican  party  increased  in 
strength  throughout  the  country.  In  the  two  States,  besides 
changes  of  opinion,  emigration  told  powerfully  on  the  Repub- 
lican side.  By  1870  the  Southern-born  population  of  Indiana 
had  fallen  to  ten  per  cent.,  of  Illinois  to  nine  per  cent.,  of  the 
whole.  In  1860  both  States  gave  Lincoln  large  majorities 
over  Douglas ;  and  since  that  year  they  have  uniformly  re- 
turned Republican  electors,  except  that  Indiana  gave  her  vote 
to  Mr.  Tilden  in  1876  and  Mr.  Cleveland  in  1884.  Space  will 
not  be  taken  to  enumerate  the  Republican  leaders  that  the 
Northwest  has  furnished ;  but  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that 
four  of  the  party's  six  presidential  candidates,  and  all  the  suc- 
cessful ones,  have  been  Northwestern  men.  The  Northwest 
decided  the  constitutional  contest  between  freedom  and  sla- 
very. Mr.  Seward  said,  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  in  1860  :  "  It 
seems  almost  as  if  it  was  providential  that  these  new  States 
of  the  Northwest,  the  State  of  Michigan,  the  State  of  Wis- 
consin, the  State  of  Iowa,  the  State  of  Ohio,  founded  on  this 
reservation  for  freedom  that  had  been  made  in  the  year  1787, 
matured  just  in  the  critical  moment  to  interpose,  to  rally  the 
free  States  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  to  call  them  back  to  their 
ancient  principles,  to  nerve  them  to  sustain  them  in  the  con- 
test at  the  Capitol,  and  to  send  their  noble  and  true  sons  and 


414  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

daughters  to  the  plains  of  Kansas,  to  defend,  at  the  peril  of 
their  homes,  and  even  their  lives,  if  need  were,  the  precious 
soil  which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Government  to  slavery, 
from  the  intrusion  of  that,  the  greatest  evil  that  has  ever  be- 
fallen our  land."  ' 

In  the  United  States  political  changes  are  quite  as  rapid 
and  extreme  as  any  others.  The  history  of  the  last  thirty 
years  is  full  of  the  profoundest  lessons  for  the  statesman  and 
the  moralist.  Externally  the  political  situation,  after  the  pres- 
idential election  of  1852,  was  exceedingly  deceptive.  No  po- 
litical party  ever  felt  more  confidence  in  its  position  than  the 
Democratic  party  in  1853.  No  political  party  was  ever  more 
thoroughly  divided  and  broken  than  the  same  party  eight 
years  later.  No  political  party  ever  accomplished  its  orig- 
inal object  more  quickly  and  effectually  than  the  Republican 
party  after  1861.  So  completely  was  that  object  secured, 
and  everything  logically  involved  in  it ;  so  entirely  have  its 
original  aspirations  become  matters  of  history;  so  different 
are  the  specific  party  doctrines  in  1887  from  what  they  were 
in  1857,  that  it  is  not  superfluous  to  state  that  the  original 
Republican  platform  contained  but  one  "  plank  "  on  which 
all  the  members  of  the  party  stood.  This  was  the  declaration 
of  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the 
territories.  It  was  the  sixth  compact  of  1787  become  a  po- 
litical creed.  This  creed  the  Northwest  embraced  with  the 
more  alacrity  because  her  own  history  and  daily  life  were  evi- 
dence of  its  truth  and  value. 

The  Northwest  opposed  secession  with  much  more  una- 
nimity than  she  opposed  the  spread  of  slavery.  In  all  the 
Northwestern  States  there  was  more  or  less  opposition  or  in- 
difference to  the  Union  cause ;  in  those  that  extended  to  the 
Ohio  River,  and  particularly  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  by  rea- 
son of  their  large  Southern-born  population,  there  was  some 
actual  disloyalty  and  overt  treason  ;  but  no  other  part  of  the 

1  Works,  IV.,  325. 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS. 


415 


Union  has  greater  reason  for  thinking  of  the  part  it  played 
in  the  great  contest  with  satisfaction  and  pride.  The  Presi- 
dent, the  great  finance  and  war  ministers,  the  foremost  gen- 
erals, were  Northwestern  men  ;  while  she  furnished  one-third 
of  the  total  physical  force  that  suppressed  the  Rebellion.1 

The  Northwest  has  shared  to  the  full  Western  faith  in  the 
West.  What  this  is  is  best  shown  on  a  background  of  Eastern 
narrowness  and  jealousy.  That  the  annexation  of  Louisiana 
in  1803  was  in  the  line  of  providence  will  hardly  be  denied 
to-day  by  any  man  who  believes  in  providence  at  all ;  but  it 
was  vigorously  opposed  at  the  time,  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  subtract  from  the  weight  and  influence  of  the  old 
States,  particularly  New  England.  Josiah  Quincy  avowed 
the  sentiment  of  great  numbers  of  Eastern  people  when  in 
1811  he  declared,  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, that  the  admission  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans  as  a 
State  to  the  Union  would  be  its  dissolution;  that  it  would 
free  the  States  from  their  moral  obligations  to  each  other ; 
and  that  it  would,  in  that  event,  be  the  duty  of  some  States, 
as  it  would  be  the  right  of  all,  definitely  to  prepare  for  a  sep- 
aration, amicably  if  they  could,  violently  if  they  must.  Dan- 
iel Webster  was  a  man  too  large  to  share  the  small  views  of 
his  Eastern  neighbors ;  but  Daniel  Webster  did  say  in  the 

1  TABLE  SHOWING  NUMBER  OF  MEN  CALLED  FOR  BY  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES,  AND  FURNISHED  BY  THE  NORTHWESTERN  STATES,  DUR- 
ING THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION.  (This  table  is  compiled  from  Phisterer : 
Statistical  Record  of  the  Armies  of  the  United  States,  10.) 


Quota. 

Total  Fur- 
nished. 

Number  re- 
duced to 
Three  Years' 
Standard. 

Ohio.                    ..                                                         

199,788 

iQ6  ifa 

Illinois    

244,496 

Michigan  

95,007 

87,364 

80,  in 

Total  

Total  for  the  United  States  

THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

Senate,  in  1846,  that  the  St.  Johns  was  worth  a  hundred  times 
as  much  as  the  Columbia  was  or  ever  would  be.  The  speech 
of  the  Revolution  was  continental ;  there  was  the  "  Continen- 
tal Congress,"  the  "  Continental  Money,"  the  "  Continental 
Army  ;"  but  the  ideas  of  the  Revolution  were  not  continen- 
tal. It  is  one  of  the  achievements  of  the  West  to  have  taught 
the  East  the  continental  lesson. 

Her  geographical  position  and  relations  have  always  caused 
the  Northwest  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  territorial  ex- 
pansion and  integrity  of  the  Union,  and  particularly  in  the 
use  and  ownership  of  the  Mississippi  River.  First  and  last, 
that  river  has  presented  five  distinct  questions  to  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

The  question  of  1782  was  :  "  Shall  the  United  States  ex- 
tend to  the  Mississippi,  or  shall  the  country  beyond  the 
mountains  be  left  to  England  or  Spain,  or  to  the  two  powers 
together  ? "  The  answer  given  to  this  question  was  the 
boundaries  of  1783. 

The  second  question  was  :  "  Shall  the  United  States,  and 
particularly  the  West,  be  allowed  that  use  and  benefit  of  the 
river  to  which  their  position  fairly  entitles  them,  or  shall 
Spain  be  suffered  to  exclude  them  from  its  waters  ?  "  This 
question  first  arose  when  Mr.  Jay  was  sent  to  the  Spanish 
Court  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  alliance.  Nothing  was  con- 
cluded at  Madrid  or  at  Paris  touching  this  question ;  so  far 
from  it,  the  concession  by  England  of  the  independence  of  the 
States,  with  their  rightful  boundaries,  led  at  once  to  new 
complications.  As  these  were  a  sequel  to  the  discussions  at 
Madrid  and  Paris,  they  will  be  traced  somewhat  at  length. 

The  treaty  of  1763  made  a  line  running  along  the  middle 
of  the  Mississippi  from  its  source  to  the  River  Iberville,  and 
thence  along  the  middle  of  the  Iberville,  and  Lakes  Maurepas 
and  Pontchartrain,  the  boundary  between  the  possessions  of 
England  and  Spain.  England  immediately  divided  Florida 
into  two  provinces,  separated  by  the  Appalachicola  River. 
On  the  north  their  boundaries  were,  at  first,  the  thirty-first 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  41 7 

parallel  of  north  latitude  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Appa- 
lachicola,  thence  down  that  river  to  its  junction  with  the  Flint, 
thence  by  a  straight  line  to  the  head  of  the  St.  Marys  River, 
and  thence  by  the  St.  Marys  to  the  ocean.  But  the  next 
year,  she  carried  West  Florida  one  hundred  and  ten  miles 
farther  north,  making  the  northern  boundary  of  that  province 
a  due  east  and  west  line  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Yazoo  to  the  Appalachicola.  The  northern  boundary  of 
Florida,  as  established  in  1763,  became  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  United  States  in  1783.  But  by  a  treaty  signed  the 
same  day  as  the  American  treaty  of  1783,  England  ceded  the 
Floridas  to  Spain,  mentioning  no  boundaries  whatever.  An 
immediate  conflict  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  was 
the  result.  The  United  States  claimed  down  to  the  thirty- 
first  parallel ;  Spain  claimed  the  Floridas,  with  the  boundaries 
that  they  had  when  England  ceded  them.  In  other  words, 
the  block  of  land  lying  north  of  parallel  31°  and  south  of  an 
east  and  west  line  running  through  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo, 
between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Appalachicola,  was  in  dispute. 
The  United  States  certainly  had  a  good  title,  and  Spain  could 
say  much  in  defence  of  hers.  Moreover,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  Spain  had  captured  the  British  posts  in  West 
Florida,  and  was  in  possession  of  them  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
Instead  of  surrendering  the  territory  that  she  held  falling 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  Spain  began  to 
strengthen  herself  in  West  Florida,  building  new  forts  and  re- 
enforcing  old  ones.  She  controlled  the  river  as  far  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  on  both  sides,  and  beyond  that  point  on 
the  west  side.  She  made  treaties  with  the  Indians  residing 
in  the  district,  they  recognizing  the  Spanish  title  and  agreeing 
to  defend  it.  For  the  time,  the  Republic  was  no  more  able  to 
drive  the  Spanish  garrisons  from  the  Southwest  than  she  was 
to  drive  the  British  garrisons  from  the  Northwest.  So  the 
issue  was  left  to  diplomacy  and  the  logic  of  events.  And, 
however  it  might  be  with  diplomacy,  the  logic  of  events 
worked  more  and  more  on  the  American  side. 
27 


41 8  THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

The  preliminary  treaty  of  1782  between  the  United  States 
and  His  Britannic  Majesty  contained  a  secret  article  to  the 
effect  "  that  in  case  Great  Britain,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
present  war,  shall  recover  or  be  put  in  possession  of  West 
Florida,  the  line  of  north  boundary  between  the  said  province 
and  the  United  States  shall  be  a  line  drawn  from  the  mouth 
of  the  River  Yazoo,  where  it  unites  with  the  Mississippi,  due 
«ast  to  the  River  Appalachicola."  As  Great  Britain  did  not 
"  recover,"  and  was  not  "  put  in  possession  of  "  West  Florida, 
this  article  fell ;  but  its  existen.ce  soon  became  known  to  His 
Catholic  Majesty  and  gave  him  mortal  offence.  Again  the 
treaty  of  1783,  by  an  article  which  was  not  secret,  declared 
that  "  the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,  from  its  source 
to  the  ocean,  shall  forever  remain  free  and  open  to  the  subjects 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States."  This 
provision  seems  strange,  to  say  the  least.  Great  Britain,  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  the  two  treaties,  no  longer  touched  the 
Mississippi  at  a  single  point,  although  the  sources  of  that  river 
were  supposed  to  be  within  her  territories ;  moreover,  from 
the  thirty-first  parallel  to  the  Gulf  the. river  lay  wholly  within 
the  Spanish  possessions.  How,  then,  since  it  is  a  rule  of 
public  law  that  the  owner  of  the  mouth  of  a  river  controls  it, 
granting  ingress  and  egress  as  he  sees  fit,  could  the  two  powers 
agree  to  such  a  stipulation  ?  No  answer  to  this  question  is 
apparent,  except  this,  that  the  treaty  merely  ceded  the  right 
of  navigation  so  far  as  the  United  States  were  concerned. 
Finally,  His  Catholic  Majesty  saw  very  clearly  that  an  Amer- 
ican republic,  in  the  free  use  of  the  Mississippi  River,  fore- 
boded disaster  to  the  Floridas,  to  Louisiana,  and  to  Mexico. 
All  in  all,  it  was  most  natural  that  he  should  be  offended  at 
the  American  treaty,  that  he  should  discover  every  day  a  new 
reason  why  the  States  should  have  been  confined  to  the  Atlan- 
tic shore,  and  that  he  should  stoutly  maintain  his  right  to  the 
territory  lying  below  the  Yazoo.  From  1784  onward  the 
Mississippi  River  was  a  "  burning  question"  in  our  politics. 
No  man  can  do  justice  to  it  who  does  not  encompass  the  social, 


A  CENTURY  OF   PROGRESS.  419 

industrial,  and  political  life  of  the  nascent  society  then  form- 
ing in  the  valleys  of  the  streams  flowing  into  the  Mississippi 
on  its  eastern  side. 

All  through  the  Revolution,  and  still  more  afterward, 
population  west  of  the  mountains  was  increasing.  Scattered 
through  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  of  the  streams  falling 
into  it ;  cut  off  from  the  east  by  the  high  mountain-wall  that 
had  so  long  been  a  barrier  to  emigration ;  bound  to  the  old 
States  by  feeble  ties ;  having  no  means  but  the  Mississippi"" 
of  reaching  the  markets  of  the  world  with  their  constantly 
increasing  products ;  bold,  hardy,  adventurous,  with  plenty  of 
lawless  and  reckless  characters — it  is  not  strange  that  this 
population  chafed  and  grew  restive  under  the  restraints  which 
the  King  of  Spain  imposed  upon  the  great  river.  The  na- 
tional authority  was  too  weak  either  to  expel  the  Spaniard 
from  the  disputed  district  or  to  compel,  at  New  Orleans, 
commercial  concessions.  This,  however,  the  West  could  but 
poorly  understand.  Again,  those  States  that  did  not  run 
over  the  mountains  evinced  an  almost  total  inability  to  un- 
derstand this  nascent  society,  its  commercial  necessities,  and 
the  drift  of  its  political  tendencies.  In  fact,  large  numbers  of 
people  in  these  States  looked  askance  upon  the  growing 
West,  and  cared  little  or  nothing  whether  it  had  any  outlet 
to  the  world  or  not.  The  hesitation  of  Congress  to  admit 
Kentucky  to  the  Union,  and  the  breakdown  of  the  State  of 
Franklin,  added  to  the  growing  irritation.  It  was  a  time  of 
upheavals  in  both  worlds ;  Revolution  was  in  the  air,  and  the 
peculiar  conditions  of  Western  life  invited  reckless  and  des- 
perate schemers.  Minister  Genet  fomented  Western  hatred 
of  the  Spaniard  ;  George  Rogers  Clark  organized  a  formi- 
dable expedition  to  descend  the  river,  and  seize  its  mouth ; 
and  Senator  Blount,  of  Tennessee,  was  expelled  from  the 
United  States  Senate  because  he  tried  to  induce  England  to 
send  an  army  from  Canada,  by  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, to  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas.  Boatloads  of  Kentucky 
products  were  confiscated  and  the  boats  broken  up ;  but,  gen- 


420  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

erally,  a  trade  more  or  less  open,  more  or  less  clandestine,  was 
carried  on.  The  times  were  rife  with  intrigue,  rascality,  and 
corruption.  James  Wilkinson,  who  moved  to  Kentucky  in 
1784,  found  there  a  home  that  gave  full  scope  to  his  remark- 
able talents  for  speculation  and  intrigue.  Spanish  agents 
constantly  travelled  on  various  errands  through  the  Valley  of 
the  Ohio.  American  speculators  and  informers  as  constantly 
visited  New  Orleans.  At  one  time  there  seemed  a  probabil- 
ity that  the  Western  people  would  detach  themselves  from 
the  States  and  form  a  union  with  the  Spaniards,  and  at  an- 
other there  was  a  probability  that  they  would  secede  from  the 
Union,  swallow  up  the  Spaniards  in  the  Southwest,  and 
create  a  Mississippi  Valley  nation.  Indian  wars  in  the  West- 
ern country,  a  discontented  and  almost  rebellious  popula- 
tion in  the  valley,  the  whiskey-insurrection  in  Pennsylvania, 
England  refusing  to  carry  out  her  treaty-stipulations,  France 
fomenting  domestic  troubles  and  trying  to  commit  the  United 
States  to  a  foreign  war,  and  England  and  Spain  trying  to  de- 
tach the  West,  first  from  the  Confederacy  and  afterward  from 
the  Union — surely  the  Republic  was  sorely  vexed.  Then  it 
was  that  the  first  disunion  scheme  was  broached,  antedating 
Aaron  Burr's  plans  as  well  as  nullification  and  secession  : 
namely,  a  scheme  to  divide  the  country  by  a  north  and  south 
line  drawn  along  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  How  imminent 
separation  was,  at  least  an  attempt  at  separation,  was  not  ap- 
preciated at  the  time; '  nor  has  history  yet  done  full  justice  to 

1  "I  need  not  remark  to  you,  Sir,  that  the  flanks  and  rear  of  the  United  States 
are  possessed  by  other  powers,  and  formidable  ones  too ;  nor  how  necessary  it  is 
to  apply  the  ament  of  interest  to  bind  all  parts  of  the  Union  together  by  indissoluble 
bonds,  especially  that  part  of  it  which  lies  immediately  west  of  us,  with  the  Mid- 
dle States.  For  what  ties,  let  me  ask,  should  we  have  upon  those  people  ?  How 
entirely  unconnected  with  them  shall  we  be,  and  what  troubles  may  we  not  ap- 
prehend, if  the  Spaniards  on  their  right,  and  Great  Britain  on  their  left,  instead 
of  throwing  stumbling-blocks  in  their  way,  as  they  now  do,  should  hold  out  lines 
for  their  trade  and  alliance  ?  What,  when  they  get  strength,  which  will  be  sooner 
than  most  people  conceive  (from  the  emigration  of  foreigners,  who  will  have  no 
particular  predilection  towards  us,  as  well  as  from  the  removal  of  our  own  citi- 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  421 

the  subject.  It  is  pertinent  to  remark  that,  had  the  New 
England  Federalists,  who  had  small  sympathy  with  the  West, 
had  their  way,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  West  would  have 
been  lost ;  not,  indeed,  through  formal  excision,  but  through 
failure  to  strengthen  its  connections  with  the  Union.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  the  Virginia  statesmen  of  the  Republican  school, 
who  understood  the  Western  problem  much  better  than  the 
New  Englanders,  on  account  of  their  closer  connection  with 
the  Western  people,  then  rendered  the  cause  of  American 
union  and  nationality  an  invaluable  service. 

Almost  always  the  history  of  the  Mississippi  question  has 
been  written  from  what  may  be  called  a  Kentucky  stand- 
point. Great  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  unreasonable  and 
arbitrary  course  taken  by  the  Spaniard ;  small  allowance  has 
been  made  for  his  fears,  rights,  and  jealousies.  Spain  was 
weak,  torpid,  almost  effete ;  but  the  Mississippi  controversy 
touched  her,  as  Mr.  McMaster  has  well  stated,  on  the  one 
point  which  still  remained  exquisitely  sensitive.  "  Whoever 
touched  her  there,  touched  her  to  the  quick.  Her  treasury 
might  be  empty,  her  finances  might  be  in  frightful  disorder, 
her  army  a  rabble,  her  ships  lie  rotting  at  the  docks.  A 
horde  of  pirates  might  exact  from  her  a  yearly  tribute,  com- 
petition might  drive  her  merchants  from  the  sea,  and  she 
might  in  European  politics  exert  far  less  influence  than  the 
single  city  of  Amsterdam,  or  the  little  State  of  Denmark. 
All  this  could  be  borne.  But  the  slightest  encroachment  on 
her  American  domains  had  more  than  once  proved  sufficient 
to  rouse  her  from  her  lethargy  and  to  strengthen  her  feeble 
nerves." '  Hence  the  alarm  with  which  she  viewed  the 


zens),  will  be  the  consequence  of  their  having  formed  close  connections  with  both 
or  either  of  those  powers,  in  a  commercial  way  ?  It  needs  not,  in  my  opinion, 
the  gift  of  prophecy  to  foretell.  The  Western  States  (I  speak  now  from  my  own 
observation)  stand,  as  it  were,  upon  a  pivot  The  touch  of  a  feather  would  turn 
them  any  way." — Washington  to  Governor  Harrison  of  Va.,  in  1784.  Writings, 
IX.,  62,  63. 

1  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  I.,  372. 


422  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

growth  of  the  Western  settlements;  her  attempt,  in  1782,  to 
confine  the  States  to  the  Atlantic  shore ;  her  determination 
to  hold  the  territory  between  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  and 
the  thirty-first  parallel ;  and  the  feeble-forcible  policy  that 
she  pursued  to  the  very  last  in  reference  to  the  Mississippi, 
sometimes  threatening  and  sometimes  wheedling  her  terrible 
neighbors  to  the  north.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that 
the  people  of  New  Orleans  were  French,  and  that  the  Span- 
ish Governor  ruled  over  foreigners.  Mr.  Cable  has  told  the 
story  from  the  stand-point  of  New  Orleans.  How  "  the  Span- 
ish occupation  never  became  more  than  a  conquest ; "  how, 
in  1/93,  when  Spain  and  France  were  at  war,  the  governor 
"  found  he  was  only  holding  a  town  of  the  enemy ; "  how  the 
Creole  sang  "  The  Marseillaise  "  in  the  theatre ;  how  the  city 
was  fortified  against  its  own  inhabitants,  as  well  as  an  outside 
foe ;  how,  again,  "  the  enemy  looked  for  from  without  was 
the  pioneers  of  Kentucky  and  Georgia ; "  how  "  Spain  in- 
trigued, Congress  menaced,  and  oppressions,  concessions,  de- 
ceptions and  corruptions  lengthened  out  the  years ; "  how 
there  came  to  the  governor  "  commissioners  from  the  State  of 
Georgia  demanding  liberty  to  extend  her  boundary  to  the 
Mississippi,  as  granted  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris ; "  how  "  Or- 
leens,"  as  the  Westerners  called  it,  was  "  to  Spain  the  key  to 
her  possessions,"  "  to  the  West  the  only  possible  breathing- 
hole  of  its  commerce  ;  "  how,  by  1786,  "  the  flatboat  fleets  that 
came  floating  out  of  the  Ohio  and  Cumberland,  seeking  on 
the  lower  Mississippi  a  market  and  port  for  their  hay  and 
bacon  and  flour  and  corn,  began  to  be  challenged  from  the 
banks,  halted,  seized  and  confiscated  ; "  how  "  the  exasperated 
Kentuckians  openly  threatened  and  even  planned  to  descend 
in  flatboats  full  of  long  rifles  instead  of  bread  stuffs,  and  make 
an  end  of  controversy  by  the  capture  of  New  Orleans ; "  how 
the  security  of  the  city  was  thought  essential  to  the  security 
of  all  Louisiana,  the  Floridas,  and  even  Mexico  ;  and  how  the 
authorities  sometimes  received  the  pioneers  who  swarmed 
down  to  their  border,  not  as  invaders  but  as  emigrants,  yield- 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  423 

ing  allegiance  to  Spain,  and  sometimes  did  their  utmost  to 
foment  a  revolt  against  Congress  and  the  secession  of  the 
West — all  this,  and  much  more,  has  Mr.  Cable  told  in  his 
own  admirable  manner.1 

Sometimes  the  port  of  New  Orleans  was  open,  sometimes 
closed ;  and  sometimes,  as  Mr.  Cable  says,  "  neither  closed  nor 
open,"  by  which  he  means  that  it  was  legally  closed  but 
practically  open,  at  least  to  preferred  traders  who  were  in  col- 
lusion with  the  Spanish  authorities.  In  1785-86  Mr.  Jay, 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  conducted  a  long  and 
tedious  negotiation  with  Gardoqui,  the  Spanish  minister, 
touching  the  issues  between  the  two  countries.  But  the  ne- 
gotiation came  to  nothing  beyond  alarming  and  angering  the 
West,  since  Mr.  Jay,  as  well  as  several  States  voting  in  Con- 
gress, had  declared  a  willingness,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and 
amity,  to  yield  the  claim  to  the  free  use  of  the  Mississippi  for 
a  term  of  years.  In  1793,  when  the  Creole  was  singing  "The 
Marseillaise,"  Spain  conceded  to  the  United  States  open  com- 
merce with  her  colonies,  and  then,  as  soon  as  the  song  ceased, 
she  withdrew  the  concession.  Governor  Carondolet  wrote : 
"  Since  my  taking  possession  of  the  government,  this  province 
has  not  ceased  to  be  threatened  by  the  ambitious  designs  of 
the  Americans."  Evidently,  fear  of  the  gaunt  Kentuckian  was 
again  in  the  ascendant.  But,  finally,  the  two  powers  con- 
cluded at  Madrid,  in  October,  1795,  a  treaty  intended  to  com- 
pose all  their  difficulties. 

Article  2  of  this  treaty  confirmed  the  boundary  given  to 
the  United  States  by  England  in  1783.  The  same  article 
provided  for  the  withdrawal  of  any  troops,  garrisons,  or  settle- 
ments that  either  party  might  have  within  the  territory  of  the 
other  party,  said  withdrawal  to  be  made  within  six  months 
after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  sooner,  if  possible. 
Article  3  made  provision  fora  commission  to  survey  and  mark 
the  boundary  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  sea.  Article  4  de- 

1  The  Creoles  of  Louisiana,  XVL,  XVIL 


424  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST. 

clared  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi  the  west- 
ern boundary  of  the  States,  from  their  northern  boundary  to 
the  thirty-first  parallel  of  north  latitude.  Article  4  also  de- 
clared :  "  And  His  Catholic  Majesty  has  likewise  agreed  that 
the  navigation  of  the  said  river,  in  its  whole  breadth  from  its 
source  to  the  ocean,  shall  be  free  only  to  his  subjects  and  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  unless  he  should  extend  this 
privilege  to  the  subjects  of  other  powers  by  special  conven- 
tion." Article  22  permitted  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
for  three  years,  to  deposit  their  merchandise  in  the  port  of 
New  Orleans,  and  reship  the  same  without  other  duty  or 
charge  than  a  fair  price  for  storage,  and  declared  that  His  Cath- 
olic Majesty  would  either  extend  this  right  of  deposit  beyond 
the  three  years  or  would  assign  the  Americans  some  other 
place  of  deposit  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 

Perhaps  the  United  States  fondly  expected  that  the  Treaty 
of  Madrid  would  end  all  troubles.  Far  from  it.  The  con- 
cessions that  it  contained  were  extorted  from  Spain  by  fears 
growing  out  of  the  state  of  Continental  affairs,  and  there  is 
only  too  much  reason  to  think  that  she  regarded  them  only 
as  diplomatic  manoeuvres,  to  serve  a  temporary  purpose. 
Certain  it  is  that  Spanish  procrastination  and  intrigue  delayed 
carrying  into  effect  the  promise  in  regard  to  withdrawing 
troops  and  garrisons;  and  it  was  not  until  March,  1798,  that 
the  Spanish  Governor  stealthily  abandoned  rather  than  for- 
mally surrendered  the  territory  above  the  thirty-first  parallel. 
Then,  on  the  expiration  of  the  three  years,  the  Spanish  In- 
tendant  at  New  Orleans  denied  the  longer  right  of  deposit  at 
that  port,  and  failed  to  designate,  as  the  Treaty  of  Madrid  pro- 
vided, an  "  equivalent  establishment."  This  act  set  the  West 
all  in  a  ferment  again,  and  war  between  the  two  nations 
seemed  imminent.  Alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  war,  Spain 
reopened  the  port,  but  only  to  close  it  again  in  1802,  just  as 
Louisiana  was  slipping  from  the  hand  of  His  Catholic  Majesty 
into  the  hand  of  First  Consul  Bonaparte. 

Such  was  the  answer  to  the  second  Mississippi  question. 


A   CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  425 

The  third  question  was  :  "  Shall  the  United  States  or 
France  own  and  control  the  mouth  of  the  river  ?  "  It  really 
involved  the  ownership  of  the  Western  half  of  the  great  valley. 
The  natural  boundary  of  the  United  States  in  1783  was  the 
Mississippi ;  they  could  not  safely  stop  short  of  that  limit — 
they  need  not  extend  beyond  it ;  but  in  1803  it  was  as  important 
for  them  to  control  the  river  absolutely  as  it  had  been  for  them 
twenty  years  before  to  extend  to  its  middle  line.  In  1800 
Spain,  having  been  in  possession  for  thirty-seven  years,  agreed 
to  retrocede  Louisiana  to  France ;  and  this  agreement,  as  soon 
as  known  on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  brought  the  new  question 
immediately  to  the  front.  In  April,  1802,  President  Jefferson 
wrote  to  Robert  R.  Livingston,  the  American  minister  at 
Paris  :  "  There  is  on  the  globe  one  single  spot  the  possessor  of 
which  is  our  natural  and  habitual  enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans, 
through  which  the  produce  of  three-eighths  of  our  territory 
must  pass  to  market,  and  from  its  fertility  it  will  ere  long 
yield  more  than  one-half  of  our  whole  produce,  and  contain 
more  than  half  our  inhabitants." '  In  February,  1803,  he  wrote 
to  M.  Dupont :  "  The  suspension  of  the  right  of  deposit  at 
New  Orleans,  ceded  to  us  by  our  treaty  with  Spain,  threw  our 
whole  country  into  such  a  ferment  as  immediately  threatened 
its  peace.  This,  however,  was  believed  to  be  the  act  of  the  In- 
tendant  unauthorized  by  his  government.  But  it  showed  the 
necessity  of  making  effectual  arrangements  to  secure  the  peace 
of  the  two  countries  against  the  indiscreet  acts  of  subordinate 
agents.  .  .  .  The  occlusion  of  the  Mississippi  is  a  state  of 
things  in  which  we  cannot  exist.  .  .  .  Our  circumstances 
are  so  imperious  as  to  admit  of  no  delay  as  to  our  course,  and 
the  use  of  the  Mississippi  so  indispensable  that  we  cannot 
hesitate  one  moment  to  hazard  our  existence  for  its  mainten- 
ance "  *  How  urgent  the  case  was  is  apparent  from  the  rapid 
growth  of  population  on  what  were  then  called  "  the  Western 
waters,"  the  boundless  capabilities  of  the  country  that  they 

1  Works,  IV.,  432.  2  Works,  IV.,  457. 


426  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST. 

occupied,  and  their  absolute  dependence  upon  the  Mississippi 
as  a  means  of  reaching  the  markets  of  the  world.  Exclusive 
of  Western  Pennsylvania,  the  over-mountain  population  was 
166,641  in  1790,  469,397  in  1800,  and  1,162,939  in  1810. 
What  was  less  than  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of 
the  Union  grew  in  twenty  years  to  be  more  than  sixteen  per 
cent.  The  annexation  of  Louisiana  by  purchase  in  1803  was 
the  answer  that  the  Republic  made  to  the  third  Mississippi 
question.  It  reunited,  politically  and  historically,  the  great 
valley,  divided  since  1763.  Mr.  Madison  in  1802  said  "the 
Mississippi  was  everything  to  the  Western  people;  the  Hud- 
son, the  Delaware,  the  Potomac,  and  all  the  navigable  streams 
of  the  Atlantic  States  formed  into  one  stream." 

The  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States  filled  the 
Court  of  Spain  with  fresh  alarm  and  anger.  It  confirmed  the 
worst  fears  that  she  had  entertained  in  1782;  it  removed  the 
screen  heretofore  interposed  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico ;  and  it  immediately  gave  rise  to  the  fourth  question  : 
"  Shall  the  United  States  reap  all  the  advantages  naturally 
flowing  from  the  purchase — shall  the  act  of  1803  stand  in  its 
full  integrity  ?  "  Practically,  it  assumed  the  form  :  "  What 
are  the  extent  and  boundaries  of  the  purchase  ?  "  The  treaty 
answered  :  "  The  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana  with  the 
same  extent  that  it  now  has  in  the  hands  of  Spain,  and  that 
it  had  when  France  possessed  it,  and  such  as  it  should  be 
after  the  treaties  subsequently  entered  into  between  Spain  and 
other  States."  1  History  alone  could  tell  what  this  language 
meant,  and  the  two  powers  could  not  agree  as  to  her  answer. 
After  a  long  controversy  that  more  than  once  threatened  to 
involve  them  in  war,  in  1819  they  came  to  an  agreement. 
Florida  became  a  possession  of  the  United  States  by  purchase, 
thus  ending  the  dispute  as  to  the  eastern  extension  of  Louisi- 
ana ;  and  the  Sabine,  the  Red  River,  the  one-hundredth  me- 

1  Spain  was  still  in  actual  possession  of  the  province  when  the  treaty  was 
signed.  She  delivered  it  to  France,  November  30,  1803,  and  France  to  the 
United  States  a  month  later. 


A  CENTURY   OF   PROGRESS.  42/ 

ridian,  the  Arkansas,  and  the  forty-second  parallel  of  North 
latitude  were  made  the  boundary  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico,  thus  practically  excluding  the  Spaniard  from  the 
Mississippi  Valley. 

The  fifth  and  last  Mississippi  question  came  with  the  Civil 
War.  "  Shall  the  Father  of  Waters  flow  all  the  way  from  his 
remotest  sources  to  the  sea  through  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,  or  shall  he,  below  latitude  36°  30",  roll  his 
floods  through  a  foreign  country  ? "  This  question  involved 
all  that  had  gone  before  it.  The  Southern  leaders  thought 
the  river  so  indispensable  to  the  Northwest  that,  threatened 
with  its  loss,  it  would  rather  cleave  to  the  South  and 
part  company  with  the  East.  These  leaders  did  not  mis- 
calculate the  estimate  that  the  people  of  the  Northwest  set 
upon  the  river.  But  they  wofully  miscalculated  the  terms 
upon  which  they  were  willing  to  possess  it.  How  thoroughly 
the  Northwestern  people  comprehended  the  issue,  and  the 
means  by  which  it  must  be  reached,  is  shown  by  the  heroic 
part  which  they  sustained  in  the  long  and  arduous  effort  to 
reopen  the  Mississippi  after  it  had  been  closed  by  the  Con- 
federacy. Still,  the  Northwestern  troops  have  not  the  exclu- 
sive glory  of  winning  back  to  the  Union  this  great  national 
highway.  President  Lincoln  thus  distributed  the  honor  of 
this  glorious  achievement  in  August,  1863:  "The  Father  of 
Waters  again  goes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  Thanks  to  the  great 
Northwest  for  it ;  nor  yet  wholly  to  them.  Three  hundred 
miles  up  they  met  New  England,  Empire,  Keystone,  and  Jer- 
sey hewing  their  way  right  and  left.  The  sunny  South,  too, 
in  more  colors  than  one  also  lent  a  helping  hand.  On  the 
spot,  their  part  of  the  history  was  jotted  down  in  black  and 
white.  The  job  was  a  great  national  one,  and  let  none  be 
slighted  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in  it." '  The  mainte- 
nance of  the  Union  was  the  answer  to  the  last  Mississippi 
question. 

1  Raymond  :  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  442. 


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Hening's  Statutes  of  Virginia,  X. 
Hildreth,  Richard  :  History  of  the  United  States  of  America.     New 

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Hillsborough,  Lord  :  Report  of,  in  Sparks's  Works  of  Franklin. 
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Journals  of  the  American  Congress  from  1774  to  1788.  Washington, 
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Journals,  Secret,  of  the  Acts  and  Proceedings  of  Congress,  etc.  Bos- 
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Knapp,  H.  S.  :  History  of  the  Maumee  Valley.     Toledo,  1872. 

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Labberton,  R.  H.  :  New  Historical  Atlas  and  General  History.  New 
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Larned,  Ellen  D.  :  History  of  Windham  County,  Conn.  Worcester, 
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Levermore,  C.  H.  :  The  Republic  of  New  Haven.     Baltimore,  1886. 

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INDEX. 


ACADIA  ceded  to  England,  66 

Adams,  John,  167 

Adams,  J.    Q.,   opinion   on    Ohio   and 

Michigan  boundary  question,  333 
Admission  of  Northwestern  States,  317 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  terms  of  treaty  of,  57 
Albany  Congress,  125,  201 
Alleghany    Valley,     first    occupied    by 

French,  47 
Allen,  107 
Allen,  Ethan,  116 
Amendments  on  land  questions,  206 
Anglo-French  war,  character  of,  55 
Anti-slavery  views,  in  Ohio,  390 
Aranda,  Count  de,  negotiations  with  Jay, 

I7S 

Ark,  The,  303 

Arkansas,  influence  of,  on  admission  of 

Michigan,  334 

Articles  of  Confederation,  222 
Arthur  the  First,  310 
Augusta  County,  Va.,  104 
Aylion,  explorer  and  settler,  6 

BALTIMORE,  LORD,  78 

Banks,  hostility  to,  in  Wisconsin,  343 

Berkeley,  Lord  John,  buys  New  Jersey, 

95 

Bienville,  report  on  Ohio  Valley,  61 

Bird,  Captain,  158 

Blanca,  Count  Florida,  172 

Boone,  Daniel,  265 

Boundary  lines,  difficulty  of  defining,  20 
disputes  between  Connecticut  and 

New  York,  94 

of  the  United  States,  121,  180,  165, 
187 

Brandt,  115 

British,  Government,  Western  land  pol- 
icy of,  1 20 

occupation  of  West  after  the  Revo- 
lution, 184 

Brule,  Etienne,  discovers  copper,  25 

Bunch  of  Grapes,  268 

Burke,  Edmund,  on  America,  145 

Butler,  115 

28 


Butler,    Captain  Zebulon,  in  Wyoming 
Valley,  112 

CABOT,  JOHN,  discovers  America,  12 
Cabot,  Sebastian,  visits  America,  12 
Cadillac,  La  Motte,  47 
Cahokia,  293 
Campus  Martius,  286 
Canada,  taken  by  Cartier,  10 

ceded  to  England,  66 

Pamphlet,  127 

Franklin's  view  concerning,  128 

proposed  cession  to  U.  S.,  169 

refugees,  lands  reserved  for,  259 
Cape  Breton  Island  ceded  to  England,  66 
Carroll,  Daniel,  222 
Carolina  grant,  80 
Carteret,  Sir  George,  95 
Cartier,  James,  9 
Centre  of  population,  393 
Cessions,  Maryland's  influence  upon,  216 

by  New  York,  229,  237 

by  Virginia,  244 

by  Massachusetts,  246 

by  Connecticut,  247 

dangers  of,  to  the  Republic,  251 
Champlain,  Samuel  de,  10,  22,  23 
Charles  I.,  grant  to  Lord  Baltimore,  78 
Charles  II.,  grant  of  Carolina,  80 

charters  Connecticut  Co.,  87 

charters  Rhode  Island,  88 

grants  New   England  to   Duke  of 

York,  92 
Charter,  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  71 

to  Lord  Baltimore,  78 

to  Carolina,  80 

to  Connecticut  Company,  87 

to  Rhode  Island,  88 

to  Penn,  98 

Chase,  Chief  Justice,  on  claims  of  Unit- 
ed States  to  Western  lands,  250 
Chicago,  398 

Chippewas  cede  lands,  256 
Choate,  Rufus,  on  colonial  boundaries, 

9° 

Christian  Indians,  259 


434 


INDEX. 


Church  lands,  276 
Cincinnati,  Society  of,  288 
Cincinnati,  early  name  of,  288 
Clark,  George  Rogers,  the  conquest  of 
country  west  of  the  Ohio,  153, 183 
instructions   from    Patrick    Henry, 

J54 
Clarendon,     Earl    of,    sells    Plymouth 

grant,  82 

Cleaveland,  General  Moses,  373 
Coeducation  in  Northwest,  405 
Colbert    represses    Canadian    political 

life,  52 
Coles,  Edward,  influence  on  Black  Laws 

of  Illinois,  360,  363 
Colonial  periods,  406 
Colonies,  French  and  English,  contrast- 
ed, 38,  39 

extent  of  the  Thirteen  in  1776,  164 
College  statistics  in  Northwest,  403 
Color  line  in  Ohio  Constitution,  357 
Columbia,  288 

Columbia  River,  Webster's  view  of,  394 
Committee  on  Northwestern  land  claims, 

224,  226 

Conception  River,  31 
Confederacy,     fear     of    Western     and 
Southern,  governs  northern  boun- 
dary of  Illinois,  327 
Confederation,  articles  of,  207 
Congress,  land  policy  of,  205,  219 
Connecticut,  how  originally  constituted, 

87 

Company  chartered,  87 
and  New  Haven  consolidated,  88 
disputes  with  Massachusetts,  89 
disputes  with  New  York,  94 
quarrel  with  William  Penn,  no 
Westward  emigration,  112 
in  Pennsylvania,  114 
claim  to  Western  lands,  199 
cedes  her  Western   lands  to  Con- 
gress, 247 

Western  Reserve,  368 
School  Fund  of,  370 
Land  Company,  372 
resigns  jurisdiction  of  Western  Re- 
serve, 378 
influence  on  Western  Reserve,  388 

Connolly,  Dr.  John,  106,  152 

Continental  Army  at  close  of  Revolu- 
tion, 267 

Coronada  explores  Mississippi  Valley,  7 

Coureurs  des  bois,   i.e.,   French  bush- 
rangers, character  of,  41 

Court  in  early  territorial  days,  303 


Culpepper,  Lord,  79 

Currituck  River,  80 

Cutler,  Dr.  Manasseh,  268,  275,  346 

Crawford,  Colonel  William,  198 

Crawford,  W.  H.,  on  slavery,  363 

Croghan,  report  of,  48,  49 

Crozat,  Anthony,  51 

DAKOTA  construction  of  Ordinance  of 

1787,  316 
Delaware,  bought  by  Penn,  99 

Company,  112 

becomes  independent,  103 
Delawares  cede  lands,  256 
De  Narvaez,  expedition  of,  7 
Denonville,    Governor    of    Canada    in 

1685,  40 
De  Soto,  7 
De  Tret,  Fort,  47 
Detroit,  founded,  27 

Straits  occupied  by  French,  42 

population  in  1765,  48 

in  the  Revolution,  150 

importance  of,  156 
De  Vaca,  7 

Dickerson  on  State  of  Oregon,  394 
Dinwiddie,  Governor,  104 
Dixon,  of  Mason  and  Dixon,  103 
Dongan  gains  Western   land   for  New 

York,  41 
Duane,  221 
Du  Lhut,  36,  42 

Dunmore,   Governor,   controversy  with 
Penn,  107 

ignores  Quebec  Act,  144 
Duquesne  seizes  northeast  branches  of 

the  Ohio,  61 
Dutch,  trading  posts  in  New  York,  39 

discoveries,  90 

claims  ignored  by  the  English,  91 

EARLY  representatives  of  Ohio,  325 
Education  in  Northwest,  402-404 
Educational  features   of   Ordinance  of 

1787,  401 
Edwards,  Ninian,   Governor  of  Illinois 

Territory,  315 
Electors,  qualifications  of,  in  Northwest 

Territory,  270 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  71 
Elliot,  150 

Emigration,  paths  of  Western,  329 
Enabling  Act,  319,  321 
England's  claim  to  North  America,  12 

yields  Western  posts,  185 
English,  on  the  Atlantic  plain,  12 


INDEX. 


435 


English,  treaties  with  Indians,  60 
Entails,  erasure  of,  269 
Erie,  City  founded,  47 
Lake,  discovered,  26 

FAIRFAX,  LORD,  79 
Fallen  Timbers,  victory  of,  184 
Father  Marquette,  30 
Fearing,    Paul,   first  lawyer    in  North- 
west, 288 
Federal,  character  of  the  United  States, 

165 

theory  of  Government,  251 
Federalist  views  on  admission  of  Ohio, 

308,  309 

Fire  Lands,  allotment  of  the,  369 
Five  Nations,  57 
Five  State  Plan,  321 
Florida,  ceded  to  England,  68 

East  and  West  constituted,  121 

boundary  dispute,  417 

purchased,  426 
Floyd,  221 
Fort,  Crevecoeur,  35 

Duquesne  built,  62 

Harmar  built,  285" 

Le  Boeuf,  61 

Mclntosh,  256 

Stanwix,  134,  256 

St.  Louis,  43 

Venango,  61 

Franklin,   Benjamin,   his  plan  for  set- 
tling Western  colonies,  126 

the  Canada  Pamphlet,  127 

reply  to  Lord  Hillsborough,  135 

arguments  for  the  Grand  Company, 
136 

Commissioner  to  Paris  in  1779,  169 

demands    Mississippi  for  Western 
limits  of  the  United  States,  174 

outwits  the  French  minister,  181 
Franquelin,  51 
French,  in  Valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  9 

discoverers  in  the  Northwest,  21 

settlements  kindly  disposed  toward 
Americans,  159 

settlers,  their  character,  52,  161 

alliance,  162,  177 

French  and  Indian  War,  62,  65,  66,  68 
Frontenac,  Count,   sends  Joliet  to  dis- 
cover the  Mississippi,  30 

policy  of,  46 

Fulton  and  Harris  lines,  331 
Fur  Trade,  40 

GALISSONIERE,  161 

Galine"e,  first  map  of  the  Lakes,  27 


}alvez,  173 

jates,  grant  from  James  L,  72 

Georgia  founded,  81 
icnesee  Valley  surrendered  to  Massa- 
chusetts, 119 

Gerard,  172 

Gibault,  Father  Pierre,  155 

Girty  Brothers,  150 

Gist,  Christopher,  58 

Gladstone,  description  of  West,  186 

Gore,  The,  118 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  8$ 

Grand  Company,  133 

Grayson,  arguments   for  Western   Re- 
serve, 248 

Griffin,  The,  32 

Grosselliers  visits  country  beyond  Lake 
Superior,  26 

Guadaloupe  preferred  to  Canada,  130 

HABITANTS,   history  of,  from  1763  to 
Revolution,   150 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  119 

Haldman,  General,  184 

Halsey  and  Ward,  118 

Hamilton,     Governor,     adopts    Indian 

warfare,  149 

civil  and  military  head  of  North- 
west, 150 

Hanson,  John,  222 

Harris  and  Fulton  lines,  331 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  delegate  to 

Congress,   306 
Governor  of  Indiana,  314 

Heights  of  Abraham,  69 

Hennepin  with  La  Salle,  34 

Henry,  Patrick,    instructions  to  Clark, 

views  on  Detroit,  158 
Hillsborough,  objections  to  the  Walpole 

Company,  134 
Hopton's  grant,  79 
Hudson  Bay  restored  to  England,  56 
Hudson,  Henry,  90 
Hull,  William,   Governor  of   Michigan 

Territory,  314 

Huron,  Lake,  discovered,  23,  24 
Hutchins,    Thomas,    author   of  United 

States  plan  of  survey,  262 

ILLINOIS,  separated  from  Louisiana,  52 
•  County,  159 
River  seized  by  Spain,  174 
County  claims,  229 
settlement  of,  under  Virginia  rule, 
293,  294 


INDEX. 


Illinois  as  a  territory,  314,  315 
admitted  as  a  State,  315,  328 
northern  State  boundary,  327 
dispute  with  Wisconsin,  330 
slavery  regulations  in,  354 
character  of  immigrants,  358 
census  of  1880,  396 

Independence,  Port  of,  373 

Indentures  of  slaves  in  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois, 354 

Indian,  position  in  French  plan  of  col- 
onization, 22 
land  titles,  59 
allies  of  the  English,  149 
in  War  of  the  Revolution,  184 
treaties,  256 
slaveholders,  348 
slaves,  349 

Indiana,  claim,  229  ;  settlement  of,  293 
Territory  formed,  307 
admitted  as  a  State,  326 
prohibits  slavery,  358 
census  of  1880,  396 

Industries  of  Western  settlements,  50 

Ingles-Draper  settlement,  58 

Iowa  Territory,  340 

Iroquois,  destroy  the  Hurons,  24 

influence   on  our  national  history, 

25 

convey  their  lands  in  trust  to  Eng- 
land, 39 

cede  Western  land  to  New  York,  41 

cede  land  formerly  of  the  Hurons 
to  England,  46 

conquests  claimed  by  England,  65 

title  to  Ohio  lands,  137 

JACKSON'S  position  in  regard  to  Ohio 

boundary,  333 
Jamestown  founded,  6,  12 
James  L,  grant  to  Sir  Thomas  Gates 

and  Sir  George  Somers,  72 
Jay,  John,  envoy  to  Madrid,  171,  174 
treats  with  Count  de  Aranda,  175 
saves  the  West  to  his  country,  182 
his  treaty,  184,  190 
Jefferson,  Thomas,   views    on  Virginia 

land  claims,  234 
plan   of   government   for  Western 

territories,  266 
views  on  town  systems,  300 
Jesuit  College  at  Kaskaskia,  50 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  negotiations  with 

Six  Nations,  132 

Johnston,  Alexander,  on  provisions  for 
new  States,  223 


Joliet,  explores  Lake  Erie,  26 

discovers  the  Mississippi  River,  31 

KALM,  129 

Kaskaskia,  population  of,  48 

surrenders  to  Americans,  154 
Kentucky,  land  litigation  in,  261 
King  George's  War,  57 
King,  Rufus,  190 
King  William's  War,  46,  56 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Horseshoe,  17 
Kirk,  David,  56 

LA  CLEDE  founds  St  Louis,  151 
Lake  Erie,  how  reached  in  1796,  282 
Lake  of  the  Woods  controversy  settled, 

190,  191 

Land,  cessions,  Madison's  views  upon, 
231-234 

litigation,  causes  of,  260 

Ordinance  of  1785,  255,  263 

policy  in  Ohio,  301 

system  of  the  Government,  302 
Langlade,  Captain  de,  152 
Lansdowne,  Marquis  of,  182 
La  Salle,  meets  Joliet  near  Grand  River, 

3° 

schemes  of,  32,  43 

explores  Lower  Michigan,  34 

builds  Fort  Crevecoeur,  35 

takes  possession  of  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  35 

establishes  Fort  St.  Louis,  43 

death  of,  43 

Le  Caron,  missionary  to  the  Hurons,  23 
Livingston,  Robert  R.,  gains  Louisiana, 
190 

views  on  importance  of  New  Orleans 

to  the  United  States,  425 
London  Company,  72,  77,  190 
Long  Island  attached  to  New  York,  93 
Lomax,  opinion   on  Virginia  Western 

claims,  196 

Losantiville,  now  Cincinnati,  288 
Louisiana,  the  first  geographical,  51 

reserved  by  France,  67 

invites  settlers,  151 

ceded  to  the  United  States,  190 

annexation  of,  426 

annexed  tc  Indiana,  314 
Louisville,  171 
Lucas's,  Governor,  war,  332 
Lucke  Island,  80 
Ludlow's  line,  292 

McARTHUR,  DUNCAN,  290 


INDEX. 


43; 


McComas,  opinion  on  Virginia  Western 

claims,  195 
McDougal,  221 
McGee,  150 

MADISON,  JAMES,  gives  rule  for  terri- 
torial limits,  165 
letter  to  Pendleton,  231 
letters  on  land  cessions,  231-234 
on  admission  of  Vermont,  237 
on  acceptance  of  Northwestern  ces- 
sions, 238 

on  revenue  plan,  238 
on  policy  of  land  companies,  243 
Maine,  bought  by  Massachusetts,  85,  93 
Marietta,  276,  286 
Marquette,  Father,  30,  31,  32 
Marshall,  John,  views  on  Western  land 

titles,  252 

influence  on  government  of  West- 
ern Reserve,  381,  387 
Maryland,  named,  78 

disputes  concerning  boundaries  of, 

100,    IO2,    103 

resistance  to  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion, 213 

remonstrates  with  Virginia,  214 
ratifies  Articles   of  Confederation, 

220 

Mason  and  Dixon,  103 

Mason,    Captain   John,    grant   in  New 

England  bounded,  84 
Mass  first  celebrated  in  Canada,  23 
Massachusetts,  Bay  Colony,  83,  85 
disputes  with  Connecticut,  89 
disputes  with  New  York,  94 
surrenders  Western  claims  to  New 

York,  118 

claim  to  Western  land,  199 
cedes   her  Western   land   to   Con- 
gress, 246 
Massie,     General    Nathaniel,    lays  out 

Chillicothe,  290 
"  Mer  Douce"  discovered,  23 
Miami  Purchase,  288,  289 
Michigan,  Lake,  discovered,  25 
Territory,  314,  315 
influence  of  habitants  on,  328 
Constitution  formed,  330 
boundary  quarrel  with  Ohio,  330 
controversy  over  admission  of,  as  a 

State,  335 
Upper    Peninsular,    objections   to, 

336  ;  resources  of,  336 
census  of  1880,  396 
Michilimacinac,  mission  of,  38 


Minnesota  admitted,  343 

Mississippi    River,    discovered    by  De 

Soto,  7 

by  Joliet  and  Marquette,  31 
taken  possession  of  by  La  Salle,  35 
called  St  Louis  River,  51 
natural  western  boundary  after  the 

Revolution,  169 

control  of  the  navigation  on,  418 
navigation  fixed  by  treaty,  423 
Mississippi  Valley,  why  abandoned  by 

Spain,  8 

French  occupation  planned,  32 
Missouri  River,  called  St.  Philip,  51 
Mohawk  Valley,  its  important  part  in 

American  history,  4,  15 
Monroe  gains  Louisiana,  190 
Montcalm,  principles  represented  by,  68 
Morgan,  George,  memorial  for  Western 

land  claimants,  212 
Morgan,  Colonel  George,  242 

NANTUCKET,  92 

National  capital,  location  of,  393 
Neutrality  belt  of  Indian  Territory  pro- 
posed between  United  States  and 
Canada,  145 
New  Albion,  95 
New  Ceaserea,  95 
New  Connecticut,  97,  375 
New  England,  13,  16,  85 
New  Hampshire  Grant,  84 

annexed  to  Massachusetts,  85 

becomes  Royal  Colony,  85 

becomes  independent,  85 

boundary  difficulties,  86 

Grants,  96 

New  Haven  Colony,  87,  88,  no 
New  Jersey  bounded,  95 

objections  to  Articles  of  Confeder- 
ation, 207 

New  Netherlands,  its  limits,  90,  92 
Newport,  Captain,  portable  barge  of,  14 
New  Scotland,  Lordship  and  Barony  of, 

82 

Newspaper  statistics  in  Northwest,  403 
New  York  possibly  a  part  of  New  Eng- 
land, 91 

western  claims  of,  198 

plan  to  promote  adoptions  of  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  216 

cession  accepted,  229,  237 
Niagara,  Fort,  built,  47 
Nicolet,  Jean,  discovers  Lake  Michigan, 

25 
North  Bend,  288 


438 


INDEX. 


Northwest     Territory     wrested     from 
France,  55 

in  Revolution,  147 

land  claims,  192 

lands  the  means  of  defraying  war 
expenses,  230 

First  General  Assembly  of,  305 

boundary  of  Ohio,  how  fixed,  324 
Nova  Scotia  ceded  to  England,  66 

refuses  lands  reserved  for,  259 

OBERLIN,  391 
Oglethorpe,  James,  81 
Ohio,  first  maps  of,  28,  291 
Company  formed,  58 
River,  difficulty  of  fortifying,  60 
Company  of  Associates,  267 
Purchase,  275 

University,  endowment,  276,  292 
^Valley,  how  related  to  country  east 

and  south,  283 
YIndians  in,  296 
admission  as  State,  267,  306,  318, 

322>  324 
First    Constitutional    Convention, 

325 

anti-slavery  discussion  in,  355 

population  in  census  of  1 880,  396 

trade  of,  40$ 

Constitution  of,  408 
Old  National  Pike,  413 
Ontario,  Lake,  discovered,  24 
Ordinance  governing  western  territory, 
terms  of,  269 

of  1787,  315,  364 

Oswald,  British  Commissioner,  169,  179 
Ottawa  River,  27 
Ottawas  cede  lands,  256 
Ouabache  River,  52 

PAN  HANDLE,  109 

Pani,  348 

Parallel  of  36°  30',  80 

Parsons,  General  S.  H.,  269,  284,  286, 

369 

Parties,  growth  of,  in  Northwest,  304 
Pemaquid,  93 
Penn,  William,  charter,  98 
buys  Delaware,  99 
quarrel  with  Connecticut,  no 
Pennamite  and  Yankee  war,  112,  116 
Pennsylvania,  disputes  concerning  boun- 
daries,  99,    101,    IO2,   103,    109, 

373 

Perry  s  victory,  185 
Pickawillany,  59 


j  Pierce,  John,  82 
Pitt,  William,  policy,  63 
Pittsburgh  surveyed,  105 
Plonden,  Sir  Edmund,  95 
Plan  of  Union,  125,  126 
Plough  and  the  Harrow,  269 
Plunket,  Colonel,  114 
Plymouth  Colony,  boundaries  of,  83 

Company,  72,  75 

Council,  84,  85 
Political  parties  in  Canada,  52 

parties  in  Northwest,  406,  410,  414 
Pontiacs  conspiracy,  148 
Popular    Sovereignty  ignored   in   Ena- 
bling Act,  320 

Population,  of  New  France  and  British 
Colonies  in  1754,  69 

of  United  States  in  1787,  282 

of  Western  Territory  in  1800,  297 

of  Western  Reserve,  395 
Portages,  46 

Pownall,  Governor  Thomas,  264 
Presque  Isle,  47 
Products  of  Northwest,  399 
Providence  Plantation,  88 
Pro-slavery  arguments  in  Illinois,   358, 

361 
Public  Domain  not  a  source  of  revenue, 

211,  264 

Public  Land  System,  302 
Public  school,  statistics  for,  403 
Purre,  Don  Eugenio,  173 
Putnam,  General  Rufus,  leads  colony  to 
the  Muskingum,  285 

QUEBEC  established,  10 

boundaries  of,  in  1763,  121 
Act,  141 

Queen  Anne's  War,  56 

Quincy,  Josiah,  on  secession  of  Eastern 
States,  415 

RADISSON  visits  Superior  country,  26 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  71 

Randolph,  John,  on  slavery  in  Indiana, 

352 

Rayneval's  conciliatory  line,  176,  177 

Report  of  Committee  on  Western  Boun- 
daries, 166 

Republican  Party,  its  birth,  412,  414 
views  on  admission  of  Ohio,  301 

Resolutions  of  Albany  Congress,  1 754, 
122,  201 

Revenue  plans  in  connection  with  land 
claims,  238 

Rhode  Island  settlements,  88 


INDEX. 


439 


River  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  6 

St.  Louis,  51 
Roberts's  Line,  292 
Robertson,  James,  265 
Rockford,  Boundary  Convention  at,  339 
Ross  County,    influence  on  division  of 

Northwest  Territory,  307 
Roswell,  Sir  Henry,  83 
Roving  Patent  granted  the  Pilgrims,  82 
Rutledge  Committee,  239,  240 
Ryswick,  treaty  of,  46,  156 

SAFFORY  AND  WOODWARD,  89 

Sante  Claire  Lake,  origin  of  name,  33 

Sante  Esprite,  mission  of,  29 

Salt  Springs,  377 

Saltonstall,  no 

Saydys,  administration  of,  77 

Sargent,  Winthrop,  286 

Saut,  Saint  Marie,  26,  29,  38,  401 

School,  provisions  in  land,  259,  262 

fund  of  Connecticut,  370 
Schuyler,  Philip,  217 
Secession  in  the  Northwest,  414 

of  Eastern  States  advocated,  415 
Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,  7 
Seven  Years'  War,  66 
Sevier,  John,  265 

Seward  on  political  influence  of  North- 
west, 413 
Shaler,     Professor,     disadvantages     of 

French  colonists,  51 
Shelburne,  Earl  of,  178,  182 
Sioux,  first  discovered,  26 
Six  Nations,  first  discovered,  26 

aid  England,  39 

their  territory  claimed  by  Virginia 
and  New  York,  198 

treaty  with,  256 
Slavery,  in  ordinance  of  1787,  272 

views  of,  at  close  of  Revolution,  345 

in  Northwest,  345,  347,  348,  349, 

351-  352-  355.  S^S 
Soldiers   furnished    by   the  Northwest, 

415 

Somers'  Grant  from  James  I.,  72 
Southampton,   administration   of   Lon- 
don Company,  77 
Spain,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  6 

in  French  and  Indian  Wars,  68 
claims  the  Mississippi  River,  170 
refuses  to  receive  Mr.  Jay,  172 
seizes  post  St.  Joseph,  173 
disputes  Florida  boundary,  417 
opposes  treaty  of  1783,  418 
views  on  Louisiana  question,  421 


Spain  withdraws  from  Louisiana,  424 

excluded  from  Mississippi  Valley, 

426 

Spotswood,  Governor,  16,  17 
Starved  Rock,  43 

St  Augustine,   key  to  Spanish  posses- 
sions, 9 
SL  Clair,  Arthur,  106 

appointed    Governor   of   Marietta, 
286 

treats  with  Indians  for  Ohio,  296 

waning  popularity,  305 

indictment  against,  311 

last  years,  313 

explains  anti-slavery  clause  of  ordi- 
nance of  1787,  350 

conflict  with  Western  Reserve,  376 

County,  299 

Lake,  origin  of  name,  33 
St.  Croix  Valley,  342 
Steamboats  on  Ohio  and  Lakes,  400* 
Steuben,  Baron,  184 
Stirling,  Earl  of,  grant  of  New  England, 

82 

St.  Jerome  River,  52 
St.  Joseph,   Fort,  42,  173 
St.  Lawrence,  9,  II 
St.  Louis,  43,  151 
St.  Philip's  River,  51 
Strachy  assists  Oswald,  178 
Stuart,    negotiations    with    Cherokees, 

132 

Sufferers'  Lands,  369 
Suffrage  in  Northwest,  408 
Superior  State  proposed,  341 
Surveys,  methods,  257,  260 
Susquehanna  an  outlet  of  Lake  Erie,  26 

Company,  in 
Symmes,  John  Clives,  286 

Purchase,  288 

Tract,  288 

TECUMSEH,   185 
Tilghman,  107 
Titles  to  Land,  70,  380,  382 
Toledo  War,  332 

City,  331 
Tonty,  35 

Township,  size  decreed,  258 
Territorial  claims,  19,  167,  280 
Territory  of  Northwest,  280,  281 
Transportation  in  Northwest,  399 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  185 

Greenville,  184 

Paris,  182,  187 
Trent,  William,  213 


440 


INDEX. 


Trenton  Decision,  116 

Tupper,  General  Benjamin,  284 

Turner,  George,  286 

Trumbull  County  organized,  387 

Trumbull,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  117 

UNITED  STATES  wrests  Northwest  from 
England,  162 

original  boundaries,  186 

jurisdiction  on  western  rivers,  384 
Utrecht,  treaty  of,  56 

VAN  BUREN'S  election,  333 
Vandalia,    133 

memorial,  213 

grant,  229 

Varnum,  James  M.,  286 
Venango,  Fort,  61 

views  on  Spain's  demands,  176 
Vermont,  in  War  of  Independence,  97 

influence  on  land  questions,  235 

admission  to  the  Union,  235 
Verazzano,  9 
Vincennes,  44,  155 
Vincent's  Port,  44 

Vintont  Samuel  F.,  on  Ohio  and  Vir- 
ginia boundaries,  193 
Virginia,  early  map  of,  13 

treaty  with  Iroquois,  59 

ceded  to  Raleigh,  71 

ceded  to  Gates  and  Somers,  72 

named,  72 

boundaries  in  1609,  73 

governors  commissioned,  77 

resists  Lord  Baltimore's  grant,  79 

releases  Maryland,  Pennsylvania, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  no, 
192 

organizes  Illinois  County,  158 

claims  to  Ohio,  194 

western  counties  of,  197 

prepares  to  sell  western  lands,  212 

denies  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  215 

cessions  not  recommended,  228 

terms  of  cession,  243 

vote  on  ordinance  of  1787,  277 

military  district  of,  290 

W ABASH  COUNTY  Claims,  22b 
Walker,  Dr.  Thomas,  58  ~ 
Walpole  Colony,  133,  134,  139 
War,  French  and  Indian,  62 
War  Claims  settled  by  land,  258 
Ward  and  Halsey  Titles,  118,  387 
Warren,  Ohio,  First  Court  sits  at,  388 


Washington,  George,  on  Western  settle* 
ments,  266 

on  separation  of   Western    States, 
420 

against  the  Walpole  grant,  140 
Washington  County,  Ohio,  created,  287, 

299 

Water-ways  of  the  continent,  2,  3 
Wayne,  General,  184 
Wayne,  County,  299,  321 
Webster,  Ashburton  Treaty,  191 

on  Columbia  River,  394 
Western  Colonial  boundaries,  124 

government  decided  upon,  269 

prophecies,  393 

question,  three  phases  of,  148 

territory,  government  of,  266 
Western  Reserve,  mistaken  area  of,  28 

description  of,  117,  247 

what  might  have  been,  186 

possibility  of   falling   to  England, 
189 

government  of,  266 

how  different  from  Virginia  Military 
District,  290 

sale  of,  371 

need  of  a  government,  379 

land  titles,  380,  382 

made  into  Trumbull  County,  387 

character  of  settlers  in,  388 
Whig  Party  in  Northwest,  412 
Whitfield,  Rev.  George,  126 
Whittlesey,  Colonel  Charles,  on  West- 
ern Reserve  Land  Company,  375 
Wilderness  Road,  15 
Williams,  Roger,  188 
Windsor  planted,  87 
Wisconsin  Territory,  315 

contends  for  Upper  Peninsula,  338 

threatens  to  form  an  independent 
State,  338 

boundary  dispute  with  Illinois,  339 

boundaries  fixed  by  Congress,  341 

admitted  as  a  State,  741 

i      •  t  Jrr-J 

population  of,  343 
Woodward  and  Saffary,  89 
Wolfe,  principles  represented  by,  68 
Wyandots  cede  land,  256 
Wyoming  Valley  Massacre,  112,  115 
Wyonoak  Creek,  80 

XAVIER,  ST.  FRANCIS,  mission  founded, 
44 

YORK,  DUKE  OF,  82 


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